The Dream Must Stay Alive
by Bunny1
Summary: This is a jointfic by me and Pixie Princess... In this universe, Lex and KC are brothers... Will a misunderstanding between Lex and Selene ultimately bring romance all around?
1. The Nightmare Begins...

**Note: In this universe, Lex and KC are brothers.**      
      
  
**"The Dream Must Stay Alive"  
                                                                      by,  
                                                        Bunny & Pixie Princess  
  
  
"This is my job, Ebony..."  
  
"For now, Lexie-babe." she smirked.   
  
"Whatever. The King is back--- so the Queen'd better watch her head." he winked, walking off.   
  
Ebony rolled his eyes.   
  
"Those stupid mallrats..." she thought. "Bray and Danni, Trudy, Lex... and that spider Tai-San... they'll all pay..." she thought darkly.   
  
~*~  
  
"Alice... you know I'm right!" Ellie hollered.  
  
"You're _sulking_ is what you are."   
  
"But..."  
  
"No buts, Ellie. Jack wasn't bullied; he can't drop everything just to follow your little reporter whims."  
  
"Little reporter whims?!"  
  
"This 'truth at all cost' is _not_ helpful, despite what you think."  
  
"Alice, we are supposed to be erasing the adults' mistakes, not _repeating_ them!"   
  
"I'd rather that than make worse ones, El."  she warned.  
  
Ellie huffed and turned her back, folding her arms across her chest as Alice left the room.  
  
~*~  
  
"We shouldn't be here, KC... we're going to get into trouble..." Pasty worried.  
  
"Patsy's right; I wanna go home." Chloe chimed in.  
  
"Then _go_; see if I care. I'll be along later."  
  
"KC---"  
  
"Go already?"  
  
Patsy and Chloe exchanged glances but went ahead on home...   
  
KC, meanwhile, slipped into the casino...   
  
~*~  
  
Later that afternoon, around dusk, Bray slipped into Trudy's room. She was resting peacefully--- his mouth quirked in that sexy way he had as he mused how angelic and peaceful she looked when she slept.   
  
He reached out to gently stroke her cheek, careful as not to disturb her. Brady began to fuss slightly, so he dropped a kiss on Trudy's forehead and went to get her. Trudy stirred slightly, but she didn't wake up.   
  
He shushed her gently and lay her on the table to change her, then kissed her cheeks and lay her next to Trudy, and smiled, laying down next to them and stroked her hair gently.   
  
His eyes closed slightly, and he began to drift, not noticing Danni at the door, making a face at the picture they made...   
  
~*~   
  
KC looked at his watch and sighed heavily--- he'd been gone for too long; the girls would tell on him by now...   
  
"Going somewhere so fast?" Billy Boy asked, stepping in front of him and blocking his path.   
  
"Move it; Mall Rats don't hafta listen to stupid Jackals." he spat, trying to step out of his way.   
  
"No..." he said, grabbing him roughly.   
  
"Leave him _be_, Billy Boy!" another Jackal said, a female with long red hair with a streak of gold and a streak of silver.  
  
"Leave it, wench."   
  
"Kid? Run." she instructed, grabbing a pool cue and wacking Billy Boy upside the head with it. "I didn't studder--- go!" she said, giving him a running shove as Billy Boy got up...  
  
~*~  
  
Selene waited, tapping her foot as KC rushed in, panting and sweaty.   
  
KC rubbed his arm under the sleeve where he'd been grabbed--- Billy Boy had left a large bruise. He wondered who the girl was who helped him, and hoped she at least got away... He felt guilty about leaving, but she _had_ told him to, and what might have happened if he'd missed his chance to escape?   
  
He came up on Selene about the time Lex was wandering into the cafe behind them; neither noticing.  
  
"Where the _hell_ have you been?"  
  
"Nowhere?" KC lied, biting his lip.  
  
"You brought Patsy and Chloe to that place downtown--- what were you thinking?! That's too dangerous for them! And, _you_ for that matter!"  
  
"Quit yellin' at me; it was _their_ idea to tag... They went home..."  
  
"Well, we were about to think of looking for you; it's _late_." she snapped, grabbing him by the bruised arm.  
  
"Owww, watch it!"   
  
"Stop being so melodramatic, KC! You need to learn to _think_!" she said, tightening her grip as he begun to squirm...   
  
~*~  
  
"Insufferable wench..." Billy Boy spat at the red haired girl standing in front of him. "...I'm your _Leader_!"  
  
The girl said nothing, just stood there with a look of pure indignance on her face.  
  
"Listen to me!"  
  
"I don't listen to bullies."  
  
"I _knew _we should have left you back here, but no, you wanted to come with us." He stood up and walked over to the girl. "You, Gwendolyn, are nothing more than a street-corner whor-" He didn't even notice Gwen grab her staff that was near the entrance to his tent, and swing it like a baseball bat against his head. "-GUARDS!"  
  
~*~  
  
"Just what the hell do you think you're _doing_, Selene?"  
  
Saline let go of KC's arm quickly. "Uh, Lex, I can explain-"  
  
Lex's eyes filled with pure rage as he caught sight of the bruise. He looked at Selene, and pulled KC away from her.  
  
"Ow, watch it!" KC cried.  
  
"Sorry." Lex looked back at Selene. "Keep your distance, you stupid cow..." With that said, Lex stormed off.  
  
"I couldn't have grabbed his arm _that_ hard..." Selene thought, as she watched Lex storm off with KC, "...could I?"  
  
~*~  
  
When Bray found Danni, she was absolutely seething. "Danni, what's wrong?"  
  
"You _know_ what's wrong, Bray!" She gestured to the direction he'd come from. "You, and, and - _her_!"  
  
"Brady? You're jealous of a _baby_? Come on Danni, even I didn't think you were -"  
  
"No, _Trudy_!"  
  
Bray sighed. He figured this would come up sooner or later. "Danni..."  
  
"No, I don't want to hear it Bray!"  
  
As Danni walked off, Bray sighed again. Things were on edge, and something was going to happen, he just knew something was... but he didn't know what, and he didn't really want to find out. So he turned around, and walked back to Trudy's room to check on Brady.  
  
~*~  
  
Gwendolyn raced out of the casino with her backpack, her heart thudding against her chest, sweat beading against her as she ducked into an alley to catch her breath, praying they couldn't hear--- surely, they must hear ...  
  
She began to breathe normally as they finally went past and leant back against the wall, catching her breath.   
  
She picked up a tattered news-sheet lying on the ground next to her, telling something about a marketplace in a mall...  
  
"The Amulet?" she read aloud. "Hmmm..."  
  
~*~  
  
Later that night, everyone walked down to dinner.   
  
Lex looked to be in a foul mood, but that wasn't always so abnormal, so everyone kind of figured to leave it be...   
  
"KC, I'm so---"   
  
"I tol' ya to keep your distance from him and I meant it." Lex growled.   
  
"Lex!" Ryan admonished.  
  
"Well... look!" he yelled, pulling up KC's sleeve.  
  
"Lex---" KC tried.  
  
"No, don't you defend her; I don't care if she _is_ a woman, she lays hands to you again I'll kill her myself!"   
  
"It was an accident!" she cried, getting upset. "I didn't mean---"  
  
"You actually _bruised_ him?" Trudy asked, shocked.   
  
"But... Ryan, help!"  
  
"Sel... He's 10... you should go easy... Smaller, remember?"   
  
Patsy and Chloe looked up at her with wide eyes, and she ran from the table.  
  
"But, Lex---"  
  
"Nevermind, now, okay? Just eat..." he said, putting a muffin in his mouth.  
  
KC sighed.  
  
~*~  
  
Gwen took off at a sprint as she left the alley, knowing the guards would eventually figure her out and come after her. And she was right, she heard their footsteps and calls only a block behind her when she got to a dead end. On the other side, and a few blocks down, was the Phoenix Mall. She spared a glance at the sheet of paper in her hand, before stuffing it in her bag and throwing it over the chain link fence.  
  
"I_ see_ her!" she heard one guard yell, and she turned to see them getting closer. She threw boxes that ere against the fence out of her way, and backed up. "She's at a _dead end_!"  
  
"Oh no I'm not," she said, running towards the fence with her staff, and flipped herself completely over it. She landed on her bag. "Owww...." She looked back for a second as she picked up her bag, but then just kept running...  
  
~*~  
  
"I don't care if she didn't _mean_ to, Ryan! She bloody well knows she shouldn't grab KC like that!"  
  
"Lex, calm _down_!" Ryan looked over at KC, who was quietly sitting in a chair. "For _him_?"  
  
KC wasn't going to tell Lex about the Jackals. Or the girl who had told him to run. He still wondered what had happened to her. In the back of his mind, he could hear Lex and Ryan arguing, but all he could think about was if the girl got out okay. Was she dead?  
  
"Look, I'm_ not_ going to _apologize_, Ryan!"  
  
"Fine Lex, then you should just go patrolling, all right? Blow off some steam, damnit!"  
  
~*~  
  
Selene wasn't even watching where she was running. She just ran. Her vision was blurred with tears and anger. "I didn't _mean_ to!" she screamed, stopping in her place. Before she could start up again, she ran into someone. "Could you all just _leave me alone_?"  
  
"Sorry, don't have time for this..."  
  
"What?" Selene wiped her eyes, and looked at the girl standing in front of her. Then, the girl grabbed her hand. "Where are we going?"  
  
"I don't know," Gwen told her, " but all I know is we've got to _run_, and _fast_!"  
  
That's when Selene noticed the guys running after them. "This is turning out to be a _great_ day..."  
  
~*~  
  
Ebony had trekked through the sewers so she wouldn't be caught as she left the mall, and headed towards the Chosen tower. It had been her home once, and it was the only place she really ever felt like she belonged. "Even _with_ that stupid Jaffa there..." she sneered, as she watched a ceremony from behind a crate.  
  
"Oh, great and powerful Zoot," Jaffa said, holding his hands up in the air, "the time nears for your return, and power and chaos to become the true way for all. Give us a sign, oh mighty Zoot!"  
  
Ebony smirked. This could be fun...  
  
~*~  
  
Trudy walked into the kids' room later with a snack-tray.  
  
"Come on, you guys... figured I'd bring you a treat." she smiled.   
  
"Jelly!" Patsy squealed.  
  
Chloe rolled her eyes; Patsy was easily pleased. But, she did _like_ jelly...  
  
"Thanks, Trudy."  she said through a mouthful.  
  
"KC? Come on, sweetie... have some?"  
  
"Not hungry." he said quietly.   
  
Trudy sighed.   
  
"Um, girls, why don't you take your snack to the common room?"  
  
Patsy and Chloe nodded and left as Trudy put Brady on Patsy's bed.   
  
"Okay, something's wrong, and it's more than just Sel?"   
  
KC nodded.   
  
"Well?"   
  
"I... I can't."  
  
Trudy sighed.  
  
"Okay, KC, but if you need to talk to me you can..."   
  
"Thanks, Trudy, really... it's just... it's nothing really. Honestly?"  
  
Trudy nodded.   
  
"Okay, try to get some rest, then." she said, mussing his hair before leaving the room.  
  
~*~   
  
"That twit actually thinks Zoot's gonna call to him from beyond the grave!" Ebony thought, biting back a laugh. "Well, considering he bought the Zoot's amulet being on my bedside so that I could become the Locos' Queen..."  
  
She looked around the hiding-place until she found an orange cone, like they used to block off traffic with in the old days... she was definitely getting some ideas...  
  
~*~  
  
Selene raced into the mall with Gwendolyn.    
  
"Is this... the place that newssheet was talking about? The marketplace?"  
  
"Yeah, but that's just a part of the mall... this is where my tribe is, The Mall Rats... Or, likely former tribe..." she sighed, blinking back hot tears.  
  
"What happened, honey?"  
  
"Well... see, I kind of did something accidentally, and now... well, it made someone _very_ angry with me--- this guy is head of security? He's probably trying to convince our leader to kick me out right now..."   
  
"That jerk; you seem like a nice person--- everyone makes mistakes!" Gwendolyn said hotly.   
  
"Yeah, you might not think she's so nice when you find out what it _was_..." Lex snarled, coming up behind them. "What? You brought in someone new so you'd have someone neutral to bitch to?"   
  
"Lex---"  
  
"Oh, oh!" he said in a mocking tone. "Big bad Lex is mad! I don't understand why--- I just abused an innocent helpless kid!"  
  
"That's _not_ fair! I didn't strike---"  
  
"Same thing!"  
  
"Back _off_!" Gwendolyn snapped, coming between them.  
  
Ellie's fit had pretty much blown over now, and she headed to Jack and Dal's to apologize. But she was sidetracked when she heard noise coming from the marketplace.  
  
"Back _off!_" the first voice Ellie heard said, and she quirked her head to the side, thinking it sounded familiar, but couldn't remember where from.  
  
"_What _did you just tell me to do?" a voice questioned the first in return, one which Ellie knew all too well.  
  
"Lex needs to take a bottle of chill pills," Ellie grumbled, before standing of straight and smiling. If this thing sounded as heated as she thought it did, it would look great as a front page story in The Amulet. She ran off to get her notebook and a pen. "Truth at all costs wins again."  
  
~*~  
  
Danni was walking to the cafe when she saw Ellie running back towards her room. "Probably on _another_ wild goose chase," she heard Alice say, which caused Danni to look at the entrance to the cafe. "I let her have it earlier about something and now she's probably just found another story that requires less traveling."  
  
"Oh, I see..." Danni managed to force a smile at Alice, and heard part of a conversation coming from the marketplace.  
  
"Oh come _on_!" Lex's familiar voice groaned. "Another stray in the mall is _not_ what we need, Selene! And besides, who says _you're _staying?"  
  
Selene's voice cut in nearly before Lex finished what he was saying. "I _said _I was _sorry_!" she screamed back at him. "What _more_ can I say?"  
  
"How about buh-bye?"  
  
Danni and Alice rolled their eyes. Sometimes Lex could be _so_ unreasonable.  
  
~*~  
  
"Uh, Trudy?" Bray asked, knocking on her door. "Can I come in?"  
  
Trudy, who was changing Brady, smiled down at the baby. "Bray's here," she said. Back to Bray, though - "Sure, come on in. I'm just changing Brady."  
  
After he walked in, Bray took a deep breath. "Trudy, I came in earlier, and - Danni saw me."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"No, no, I mean, she thought - oh, that doesn't work either." Bray sat down on the bed. "I knew I should have thought of what I was going to say before I came in here."  
  
"Try again, practice makes perfect." Trudy managed a small smile.  
  
"She thinks we're lovers?"  
  
"Aha. And you set her straight?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Bray?"  
  
"I kind of... well... I'd forgotten how nice it was?"  
  
~*~  
  
"Lex,  is it?"  
  
"Don't start with me; you're cute but I doubt you can convince me on her behalf."  
  
Gwen reached out to slap him but he caught her wrist.  
  
"No, I think you an' your friend should just _go_?"  
  
"Lex?" KC asked, coming up behind him.  
  
"Go to your room."  
  
"Kid? Hi..." Gwen said softly, reaching out to touch his cheek.  
  
"No, no..." Lex said with a little shake of his head, pulling KC behind him.  
  
"You're alive?"  
  
"Yeah... glad you made it okay..."  
  
"Same here..." KC flushed. "Thanks, by the way..."  
  
Lex frowned.  
  
"You know her?"  
  
"Lex, there's something I gotta tell you..."   
  
"He had a bit of a problem with Billy Boy this after?"  
  
"Billy Boy?"  
  
"Um, we'll be right back..." he said, dragging Lex over to the side.  
  
"What am I missing, KC?" he demanded. "What's this about Billy Boy?"  
  
"Well... I didn't know how to bring it up, but... Sel didn't give me that bruise? I mean, she made it a bit worse maybe, but Billy Boy did it. I tried at first to tell you, but you were so upset..."  
  
"Well... you should tell me these things, understood?"  
  
KC nodded, looking down.  
  
"Still... Selene is _not_ off the hook--- she doesn't act rough with you whether she gave ya that bruise or not. Where does the chick fit in?"  
  
"She helped me out?"  
  
"Okay, go wait in my room. _Now_." Lex said, pointing when KC opened his mouth to protest.  
  
As KC ran upstairs, Lex walked over.  
  
"I'm _still_ not apologizin' to you, Selene."  
  
"But, Lex, I heard---"  
  
"You were _still_ wrong? Made it worse. But you, thanks." he nodded to Gwen, walking back up the stairs.  
  
Danni was having a nice talk with Alice when Ellie ran into the cafe. "Alice! Alice!" she said, "Lex just said _thanks_ to someone!"  
  
"Yeah right," she replied, "you're supposed to be reporting the truth, not undeniable fiction."  
  
"No, really! There's a third person in the marketplace, Alice. She's got long red hair, and I can't see her face, but.... it looks like it has spiral curls, like Gwen's was."  
  
"Ellie, now I _know_ you're lying. Gwen was captured by Billy Boy and the Jackals, remember?"  
  
"Yeah, but it looked a lot like her, I'm telling ya..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Power and chaos rule supreme!"  
  
"Stop!" Ebony called out, emerging from behind the crate, "I am your sign! The one you've been waiting for..."  
  
Jaffa glared at Ebony. "The false leader wishes us to believe she is a sign from the mighty Zoot!" He narrowed his eyes to slits and pointed at Ebony. "I demand a test for you, to prove you are the sign we have been waiting for."  
  
"I can take it, throw it at me, Big G."  
  
~*~  
  
"He said thanks?" Selene questioned aloud, not even to Gwen. "I don't think I've _ever _heard Lex say thanks." Then she turned to Gwen. "And I mean to _anyone_."  
  
Gwen shrugged, and then bit her lip. "Listen, sweetie, I'm really sorry I brought you back into trouble." Then she attempted to ask a question without worry in her voice. "So, you grabbed the kid?"  
  
"Yeah..." Selene sat against a wall, and was soon joined by Gwen. "... but I didn't mean to so hard. He's _always_ getting into scrapes, and going off alone, when he _knows_ he's not supposed to. And _especially_ by the casino." She sighed. "Sorry."  
  
Gwen shrugged. "Nah, it's okay. I was stupid and joined up with the wrong people." Then she sighed. "I wasn't even vital. As I was supposed to be was a girl of the night, someone the guys could have fun with. I ended up beating them more often than not."  
  
"Well, I've become not vital. And everyone else _but_ Lex believes me. I didn't mean to, I swear. But we_ were _about to send out a search party for him."  
  
~*~  
  
Defeated, Ellie went to the only person she hadn't told yet about her story, Tai-San. "Hello Ellie," she said, "more news for the newssheet?"  
  
"Yes," she said, flopping down into a chair, "but no one thinks it's real." She looked at Tai-San. "Lex said thanks. And I think I _know_ the girl he said it to."  
  
~*~  
  
"Hi, Lex..." KC said, looking down.  
  
"Relax?"   
  
"You're not mad?"  
  
"No--- but I told you about going there without me."  
  
KC nodded.  
  
"So, in trouble?"  
  
"Nah; but I don't want you goin' out for... um... 3 days?"  
  
"Grounded? Come _on_---"  
  
"You heard me."  
  
~*~  
  
"Are you sure?" Tai-San asked Ellie again.  
  
"Positive!"  
  
"Then, what are we wasting time for?"  
  
"Yeah, come on..." Ellie said, dragging her.  
  
~*~  
  
"I believe you..." Gwen tried to soothe.  
  
"You know, always I've been kind of the Mom figure--- I mean, yeah, Trudy's motherly too, but it was always me, ya know? And... now..." she sighed.  
  
"Selene? Don't be so hard--- everyone makes mistakes..."   
  
"But, this one was a biggie..." she sniffed.  
  
"Gwen?"  
  
~*~  
  
"Come on Trudy," Bray pleaded, "I didn't mean it _that_ way!"  
  
Trudy spun around to face Bray, fire in her eyes. "In _what_ way? That I'm a fun person, but just _not_ the type you want for the rest of your life? _That_ way, Bray?" Then she paced back and forth. "Or, oh, I _know_ - I slept with your brother and you don't _deserve_ seconds, you always want _firsts_."  
  
"Trudy, listen to me-"  
  
"NO! OUT!"  
  
~*~  
  
"Gwen?"  
  
At the sound of the voice behind her, Gwen turned around and saw Ellie. "ELLIE!" Gwen ran forward and pulled Ellie into a hug. "I missed you!"  
  
Ellie smiled, and held up her notepad as she backed from Gwen. "Now," she said, "mind giving me an account of exactly what went down?"  
  
Tai-San walked over to Selene. "Lex will calm down," she stated, "maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will happen."  
  
"Yeah, but he's already _thanked _Gwen, and he _just _met her," she said, sniffling.  
  
"That's very unlike him..."  
  
~*~  
  
Alice handed Danni a tray of the cans they were having for dinner, and nearly dropped it when she heard Gwen. "She wasn't killed..." was all Alice could manage to say.  
  
"Who wasn't?" Danni asked, balancing the tray and carrying them to the big table in the middle of the cafe. "The mysterious third person?"  
  
Alice nodded. "My _other_ sister, Gwen..."  
  
~*~  
  
Ebony couldn't believe it. She had to walk over hot coals, while repeating the four mantras of Zoot followers. And _twice_. "I'm gonig to get you for this, Jaffa," she muttered under her breath.  
  
"What was that, _false leader_?"  
  
"Nothing, oh great and powerful Guardian, speaker of the true revelation of Zoot!" Under her breath however - "Who has a fancy for women's underpants and makeup..."  
  
~*~  
  
Ebony slipped back into the mall after everyone had gone to bed and pulled off her clothes, painfully sliding into a warm bath. She hissed as she stretched out--- that stupid Jaffa and his moronic tests...   
  
Well, at least she could pride herself on being good at hiding pain; she'd passed with flying colors...  
  
~*~  
  
Bray paced back and forth, but he finally decided to break down and go to the one place he never thought he'd go for advice--- Lex's room...   
  
He shuddered as he opened the door; knowing he would have to swallow a lot of his pride for this one... But... Lex did know women, and... well, he and Zan had worked things out after the Ebony and Tai-San fiascoes... And, he knew Lex really loved her; he'd watched him mourn...  
  
He looked in and saw Lex, snoring away, KC asleep under his arm. He hated to wake them; they made a nice picture for one, and for two... well... Lex'd be madder than a grizzly... But... he _did_ need to talk...  
  
Grimacing, he reached out to shake him...  
  
~*~  
  
Ryan nuzzled Selene gently.   
  
"Come on, then... it's okay..."  
  
"Ryan, you're turning into... _Lex_!"  
  
"Beg pardon?"  
  
"You can't solve my problems with sex!"  
  
"That would be more Tai-San's 'shakras'?" he pointed out.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Damnit, Sel; I can't please you to save my life!"  
  
"Stop trying so hard and maybe---"  
  
"You know what? This is my room. Why don't you go back to your room if you don't wanna be here?"  
  
"But, Ryan..."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry... don't cry?"  
  
"Don't you want me?"  
  
"Yes." he sighed patiently. "I want you, I do... I just don't know how to satisfy you?"  
  
"Well..."   
  
~*~  
  
"And, you're really back, I just can't believe it!" Alice said for the millionth time.  
  
"Well, after what happened today I'm out of the Jackals--- I wonder if Lex _knows_ I'm an ex-Jackal?"  
  
"Well, he already thanked you--- something he's _never_ said to _anyone_ before--- so I don't reckon your _ex_ tribe will matter..." Alice said.  
  
"He did go a bit nuts today... it's gonna make a _great_ story!" she enthused.  
  
Alice and Gwen exchanged glances and rolled their eyes comically at each-other...   
  
~*~  
  
"Jack? Go to _sleep_?"  
  
"It's just... weird? I mean, Lex and Selene are fighting, Trudy and Bray are fighting, and some new chick shows up all in one day?"  
  
"Well... it can only get better from here?"  
  
"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, farmer-boy..."  
  
"Bray's not very good with Trudy, anyhows..."  
  
"You fancy her and we both know it, so come off it..."  
  
"What? We're friends... it's just... Bray could be better."  
  
"Uh-huh... sure... So, Ellie and Alice's sister... she seems nice?"  
  
"Yeah, even _Lex_ was civil... that's just freaky..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Oh, yeah, right th- _Bray_, get offa me!" Lex screamed, before realizing KC was still laying next to him, sleeping like a baby. Tai-San had given him some sleep aid to slip KC in his dinner, so the kid would actually sleep through the night. "Geez, man!"  
  
Bray rolled his eyes, before sighing and moving back from the bed. "Lex," he said, closing his eyes, "you are my _last_ resort, but - I've made a mess of things?"  
  
"Well, gee, who woulda thought?" Lex commented with so much sarcasm, you could marinate a couple of steaks in it, "The leader has messed things up? A shock, a complete and utter shock."  
  
"Look, you're the only one who _has_ knowledge of women like I need... and I need it now."  
  
"Tell 'em they're pretty?"  
  
"No, you see, it's like this..."  
  
~*~  
  
"So you see Jack," Ellie said, "I'm really sorry, but Gwen gave me a better story."  
  
"And it's _true_?"  
  
"Of _course_ it's true. Selene heard him too."  
  
"You _will_ be putting that in _after_ talking to Lex, right?"  
  
"Of course Jack, I'm not a complete ditz."  
  
Gwen was walking by just then. "I beg to differ," she said, smiling even after having to duck out of the way of Ellie's notebook, "tsk, tsk, Mom would be _so _ashamed _Eleanor_."  
  
"GWEN!"  
  
~*~  
  
Danni had decided she would apologize to Bray in the morning, but right now, needed to get to the hot tub store and take a nice long soak in the tub.  
  
Just as she was about to walk in, she saw Ebony in one of the tubs. "Stupid Jaffa and his stupid tests to prove I'm the sign," she said, grumbling, not noticing Danni behind a column, "but at least I got him to think I was."  
  
~*~  
  
"Thanks for letting Gwen stay with you, Tai-San," Alice said, as she helped Tai-San make up a second bed in her room, "at least temporarily."  
  
Tai-San gave Alice a smile. "It will be nice having someone to share the room with," she replied, "we'll get to know each other." Then she laughed. "Maybe Lex will ask Bray to let her join the Mall Rats."  
  
"Well, he's already _thanked_ her, who _knows_ what's next?"  
  
"Marriage?"  
  
They _both_ had a good laugh over that one.  
  
~*~  
  
Lex looked at Bray as he heard his story and suddenly doubled over laughing.  
  
"It's not _funny_, Lex!" Bray seethed.  
  
"Yeah, it's frikin' hysterical..."   
  
"Lex!"  
  
"Awwwww... come on, then... Okay, you have to _prove _it? And somethin' better than candy and flowers, man..."  
  
"Helpful."  
  
"I'm tryin', but..." he cut himself off as he began laughing again.  
  
Bray groaned and flopped back onto the bed, forgetting for the moment about KC.  
  
"Mmmmphhh... what's going on?" he asked weakly, rubbing his eyes sleepily.  
  
~*~  
  
"Tai-San?" Danni whispered, shaking her.  
  
"What? Danni, I was just about to sleep..."  
  
"It's Ebony; she's up to something..."  
  
"Perhaps you are misjudging her; Ebony is turning over a new leaf---"  
  
"Don't be stupid; she's doing... _something_! I know it!"  
  
"Based on?"  
  
"I overheard her talking in the bathtub to herself?"  
  
"Well, looks like we've got ourselves a peeping perv..." said a voice from the door.  
  
~*~  
  
"Gwen, come on!" Ellie whined.  
  
"Go to bed; you need your rest." Gwen smirked, tucking the notepad in her back pocket. "Now... let me get acquainted?"  
  
"But---"  
  
"To _bed_, Eleanor."  
  
~*~  
  
"Chloe? You 'sleep?"   
  
"No..."  
  
"I'm scared, Chlo..."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Everyone's fighting; we're gonna be orphans..."  
  
"We already _are_..."  
  
"You _know_ what I mean..."  
  
"Yeah, don't worry; it'll work out, Pats... We've got each-other and Cloudy?"  
  
"Yeah, guess..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Ebony!"  
  
Ebony walked into the room, hair still dripping from the hot tub dip she'd just taken. "Yeah, that's right... bet you got an eyeful, huh?"  
  
Danni and Tai-San both rolled their eyes. "I wasn't _peeping_, Ebony," she said, "and _you_ were at the Chosen tower!"  
  
"You could have just walked in and I wouldn't have thought the wiser, just wouldn't of talked, is all. And it was a private conversation, thank you very much!"  
  
Tai-San sighed. "Would you two leave the room at least?" she asked, in a  half-whine, "I _was_ trying to sleep you know."  
  
"Fine, fine," Danni grumbled, glaring at Ebony with icy daggers in her eyes as she walked out.  
  
~*~  
  
"The next person to come into my room and wake me up is getting a syringe up their _butt_!" Tai-San screamed, and Gwen walked in. She calmed down once she saw it was Gwen. "Sorry, Gwen..."  
  
Gwen smiled. "It's okay," she said, "I was just wandering, and got Ellie's notebook. I'll give it to Lex tomorrow."  
  
"Uh huh, whatever. Be quiet, okay?"  
  
"You got it."  
  
~*~  
  
"Geez Bray!" Lex let out as he grabbed Bray and pulled him up off KC, "_Hurt kid_ there!"  
  
KC groaned. "Yeah, and yelling doesn't help," he said, throwing a pillow at Lex, "I was _actually_ sleeping."  
  
"Hey, Bray's the one who jumped onto you."  
  
Bray rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and you pulled me off," he said, "and yelled."  
  
"Look, we'll finish in the morning, Bray; just know you gotta do some major making up with one of them, and dump the other one. But you always go back to Trudy, man."  
  
~*~  
  
"Selene!"  
  
"Hey Pats..."  
  
"You're not leaving, _are_ you?"  
  
"Not for a while... until it's official, me being kicked out."  
  
"Oh... okay..."  
  
~*~  
  
Trudy sat on the balcony outside, holding Brady. "You think Bray meant that in a bad way, huh Brady girl?" she asked, sighing.  
  
Brady only cooed in return.  
  
"Yeah, I love 'im too. Just wish he would stop being so stupid and be in love with me."  
  
~*~  
  
Lex woke up the next morning, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He saw that KC was still sleeping, so he decided to leave him where he was and head down to breakfast.   
  
When he got there, Gwen was waiting for him while everyone else was eating.  
  
"Lex... I wanted to talk to you about something..."  
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"See, Ellie wanted to do this story about what happened, right? But, I thought you should see the notes first..." she said, handing them to him.  
  
"Hey, that's not finnished yet!" Ellie called out.  
  
Lex glanced them over; he didn't know why, maybe for show, as he couldn't read them, and rippped them up, tossing them into the air.  
  
"Now it is."   
  
"Lex!"   
  
"I don't want any stories like that printed, Ellie. I don't read your little newssheet, but if I hear tell of a _word_ of it in there, I will break your printing press." he snapped, walking out.   
  
Gwen stared after him in open-mouthed-shock.   
  
"Don't mind him; he's an old bear sometimes...  you get used to it..." a voice said from below her.   
  
~*~   
  
"God, Bray, why won't you _listen_ to me?! Because I don't have my breasts shoved in your face?! Because I haven't given bi---"  
  
"_Enough_, Danni! You wanna know why I am not listening to this? Hmmm? Because you are petty and jealous--- of _everyone_. We could've been something, b---"  
  
"C-could've? Bray, what are you saying?"  
  
"I'm saying you can't just go around accusing people of things with no proof or even _evidence_..."  
  
"No! What are you saying about we 'could've'???"   
  
"Danni... I'm sorry... but..."   
  
"It's because of her, isn't it?" she huffed angerily. "Damn, Bray, never would've thought you the type to want someone's sloppy seconds..."   
  
~*~  
  
Meanwhile, where KC slept, someone loomed over his head like an ominious shadow, putting whispers into his ear, that burned into his sleeping brain, affecting his  dreams...  
  
~In the dream, he could see Billy Boy before him, clear as anything, standing over him as he was pinned down by... something, he couldn't tell what.   
  
"They'll come and find me." he told him confidantly.   
  
"Who? Your precious little Mall Rats? Perhaps big brother? No... they won't come--- you're a weakness, a liabliity... they've decided to get shed of you..."~   
  
And, Billy Boy smirked through his blue makeup as the boy tossed and turned fitfully... **


	2. Darkness Rising...

**When Bray walked into the kitchen, Selene wasn't even acknowledged. "He must want me out now too," she thought pitifully, as she got herself her own breakfast.  
  
"Where is it, where is it?" Bray asked himself aloud, before turning around and seeing Selene there. "Oh, hey Selene. Have you seen a box?"  
  
"Uh, Bray?"  
  
He turned back into the cabinet. "Ah ha, got it." He turned back to her holding a wooden box. "Thanks, we'll talk later."  
  
As Bray ran off, Selene sighed. "Yeah, later, right."  
  
~*~  
  
Ebony smirked, as she stood over a thrashing KC. First step completed. Now all she had to do was get to Lex. That shouldn't be too hard...  
  
"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing in here Ebony?"  
  
"Lex, Lex, Lex," she said, like the snake she was, "you and I _both_ know we're perfect. We want the same things. We both want to control the tribe, Lex..."  
  
~*~  
  
"What?" Gwen said, looking over the railing she was sitting next to. She saw a girl standing down there, with short, purplish hair... "Uh, Trudy, right?"  
  
Trudy smiled sadly, walks walked up the cafe, sitting across from Gwen. "And you're Gwen, the only person Lex has _ever_ thanked, for _anything_..."  
  
"I really don't see what the big deal is..."  
  
"And he ripped Ellie's story up... again."  
  
Gwen nodded, with a  slight frown on her face. "I don't even think he really read it... he just ripped it up. Not _all_ of it was about what happened..."  
  
~*~  
  
"I can't _believe_ him!" Danni screamed as she slammed the door to her room, "he makes _me_ think I'm the special one and he goes and chooses _her_?" She looked out a window of the mall. "He is going to pay for this..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Right now, Ebony," he bit out, "I just want you the hell outta my room."   
  
"You really are a wimp sometimes, Lex... You could have so much..."  
  
"With you, is that it?"  
  
"Well..." she smirked coyly.  
  
Lex looked her up and down, then saw KC tossing fitfully and "gently" guided her out of the room, slamming the door.  
  
"Hey, hey..." he whispered, coming and putting a hand to cup his cheek. "Wake up... just a dream..."  
  
KC's eyes snapped open and his breath came in one startled gasp, his eyes wide with fear.  
  
"Hey, hey... it's okay... calm down, just a dream..." Lex soothed, his eyes worried...  
  
~*~  
  
"Lex just doesn't _care_ that it wasn't all about that--- he's a... a... freedom of the press squelcher!"  
  
"Ooooh, rough language, El..." Jack teased.  
  
Ellie gave him a withering glare.  
  
"He's in a mood, ignore it?" Trudy suggested logically.  
  
"Trudy..." Bray smiled at her.  
  
"Oh, morning, Bray..."  
  
"Can... will you go for a walk with me?"  
  
"Sure..." she shrugged, lifting Brady out of her carseat. "Sel? Watch baby will you, please? Just for a little while? Thanks." Trudy smiled, handing her Brady without giving her a chance to answer and going out the door with Bray...  
  
~*~  
  
"Billy Boy--- this is a really bad idea..."   
  
"Yeah... bad Karma."  
  
"Mall Rats are strong..."   
  
Billy Boy tossed his hands up as he surveyed the triplets--- the twits would go around singing all the damned time, and they were really no help unless they were in the _mood_ to fight...  
  
"Shut up, all three of you! We are going to get her back, and that's final! And, if we can get to Lex in the process, more's the better!"  
  
~*~**  
  
Danni walked back into the mall, smug as can be, and ran straight into Ebony. "Watch it!" she yelled, immediately turning into quite a little witch. "Am I glad this will all be over soon..."  
  
"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Ebony screamed at her, "First you sneak in on the hot tub room and just _watch_ me, and then you come back and say everything's going to be over? Are you going to be a little coward and put us all out of our misery by getting rid of yourself?"  
  
"Not exactly, but my dad _did_ create the virus... I've got that natural destruction thing going for me." She smirked and started walking off, waving to Ebony. "Buh-bye, Eb."  
  
~*~  
  
"Who were ya yellin' at, Lex?"  
  
"No one you need to be concerned with..."  
  
"Was it Ellie and Alice's sister?" KC asked, eyes wide. Even though she was older, he didn't want Lex yelling at her. "She risked a _lot_ to help me."  
  
Lex sighed, and ruffled KC's hair. "No, not Gwen." He looked at KC. "Don't concern yourself with it, just rest."  
  
"Lex, about what happened..."  
  
"I'm just glad your okay." Lex _knew _there were things he hadn't been told, but he'd be likely to yell if KC told him right now...  
  
~*~  
  
Bray walked along the beach with Trudy, nervously holding onto the box in his pocket. "So," Bray said, "on a scale of one to ten, how mad are you right now?"  
  
"Fourteen."  
  
"Oh..." Bray took the box out of his pocket. "I was going to save this for when I told you guys who I chose. Like, really chose." He laughed nervously. "Even went to Lex for advice."  
  
Trudy laughed finally. "_Lex_? You went to _Lex_?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, you can laugh about it later." He handed her the box. "The day I met Martin, when Chloe saw me... I... grabbed this from your house."  
  
"What is it?" Trudy took the box, and slowly opened it. Tears built in her eyes when she saw what was inside. "Oh, Bray..."  
  
~*~  
  
Selene sat down next to Ryan at the fountain. "Ryan?" she asked shifting Brady on her shoulders.  
  
'What is it, Selene?"  
  
Selene cringed. "You don't have to sound so cross, Ryan."  
  
"Don't I have a right? All I want is you, and all _you_ want is _Bray_!"  
  
"Well, _you_ wanted Zandra! But she chose _Lex_!"  
  
~*~  
  
Gwen saw Ellie looking over at her. "What?" she asked.  
  
"Your eyes," she said, "they're green. I forgot about that."  
  
"We've all got the green eyes, El," Alice said, sitting down next to them. "It's just hers are different. They're like emeralds."  
  
Ellie nodded, and moved to sit between Alice and Gwen. "A family again, huh?"  
  
Gwen and Alice smiled. "Yeah," Gwen told Ellie, "one big, happy, farm loving family."  
  
_Well, it was one of those great stories,   
that you can't put down at night.   
The hero knew what he had to do,   
and he wasn't afraid to fight.   
The villain goes to jail,   
and, the hero goes free.   
I wish it were that simple for me.  
_  
Trudy lifted out her mother's favorite necklace--- it was a Star of David; rather to people of the Jewish faith what a crucifix is to Christians...   
  
She fingered the delicate sterling chain, feeling the minute silver filigreed symbol between her fingers...  
  
"Oh, Bray..." she said again, her voice thick and choked.   
  
"Here... let me put it on you?"  
  
She nodded and he clasped it on her, fumbling a bit with the tiny clasp.  
  
"There..." he said, dropping a kiss on the back of her neck.  
  
"Thank you, Bray... I was starting to forget..."  
  
"Shhhh... it's okay..." he whispered, burying his face in her warm neck, breathing in her sweet scent... like warm vanilla extract...   
  
 _And, the reason that she loved him,   
was the reason I loved him too.   
And, he never wondered what was right or wrong,   
he just knew--- he just knew._  
  
"Isn't it morning yet?" KC wondered.  
  
"Well, yeah... past breakfast; let ya sleep in..."  
  
"Oh... well, can I go get something now? Kinda hungry..."  
  
"Ah, sure, kid... whatever you want..."  
  
KC nodded and went down to the kitchen. Lex watched him leave and sighed, laying back against the wall.  
  
"Billy Boy is _so_ dead..."  he muttered under his breath...  
  
_Shadows and shapes mixed together at dawn,   
but, by the time you catch them, the simplicity's gone.   
And, so we sort through the pieces,   
my friends and I.   
Searching through the pieces   
to find the breaks in the sky._  
  
"I'm bored..." Patsy whined.  
  
"Yeah, we never get to do anything around here, and KC's sleeping..." Chloe added a bit petulantly.   
  
"Well... what do you want us to do about it?" Jack asked.  
  
"Jack, don't be so grouchy..." Alice tsked.  
  
"Ummm... you girls know how to play scattergories?" Gwen smiled at them.  
  
"Scat-what?"  
  
"Scattergories... it's great fun; it's like we pick a letter, and have to write down something in each category starting with that letter before the time is up. We see then if our answers match or if we came up with more original things..." she explained.   
  
"Oh, yeah!" Ellie smiled. "We used to play that all the time back before..."  
  
_And, the reason that she loved him,   
was the reason I loved him too.   
He never wondered what was right or wrong,  
he just knew--- he just knew._  
  
KC walked out towards the cafe and bumped into Selene, Ryan and Brady.   
  
"Oh, hey guys..."  
  
"Hi, KC..." Selene said softly.  
  
KC frowned slightly.  
  
"It's _okay_, you know... he's calmer this morning?"   
  
"Calmer?! He still wants me out; he's gotten _everyone_ to want me out!"  
  
"If that were so you wouldn't be sitting for Brady." he said pointedly.  
  
"Yeah, chill out, Sel..."  
  
_And,  we wonder,  
yes we wonder,   
how do you make sense of this?   
When the hero kills the maiden   
with his kiss--- with his kiss.  
_  
Bray cupped her face gently and pulled her to his mouth, capturing hers hotly. With his tongue he gently parted her lips and explored the inner recesses of her mouth...   
  
Trudy reciprocated eagerly, knotting her fingers in his hair as they fell down to the sand and the waves began to crash around them...  
  
_Well, it was one of those great stories,   
that you can't put down at night.   
The hero knew what he had to do,   
and he wasn't afraid to fight.   
The villain goes to jail,   
and the hero goes free.   
I wish it were that simple   
for me--- if it were that simple for me..._  
  
**"Hey, that's no fair!" Ellie said as she read Gwen's picks. "You're the only one who thought of _Lex_ for a nickname!"  
  
Gwen shrugged, but Alice was snickering. "Figures," she told Patsy and Chloe, "Gwen likes Lex, we should have all thought of it."  
  
"But Lex isn't a_ nickname_. It's his _name_!"  
  
"Yeah, Alice, it's his _name_! She can't win for that!"  
  
"Why not, huh?" They all turned to the door of the cafe. While they'd seen KC come and go while they were at K, no one noticed Lex walk in while they were writing down their stuff for L. "And Gwennie, I need to talk to you._ Now_."  
  
Gwen sighed. "Yeah, yeah, all right..." She lifted herself up from the floor and grabbed her staff, which she'd been using as a crutch since she'd found it that morning.  
  
Lex helped her out and looked back when they got to the entrance. "And Lex is short for Alexander."  
  
~*~  
  
"Sel, calm down.... Lex is just mad because you made it _worse_..."  
  
KC nodded. "Yeah, you know him; it'll blow over in a few days."  
  
"I don't _have _a few days!" Selene cried. Of course, this caused Brady to start, and so Selene had to jiggle her along. "I don't, you both know that."  
  
Ryan sighed.. Sometimes Selene was just impossible. "Come on, I think the Gwen could do a pretty good job of convincing him ya didn't mean it?"  
  
"Yeah, right."  
  
"Then why is he talking to her... again?" He gestured towards the two walking out of the cafe. "Come on, she'll plead your case."  
  
~*~  
  
"We've gotta warn her..." Lips said, looking out of a window of the casino. "...so they can prepare..."  
  
"Billy would be mad," Dimples commented rather airily, "real mad."  
  
Teeth nodded. "I concur," she said, before they all broke out into mad laughter.  
  
~*~  
  
Ebony was the one to follow Danni this time. She went to the closet where there was the blueprints for the mall. "What are you doing?" she asked, causing Danni to spin around, looking all shocked. "My, my, jumpy aren't we?"  
  
"_Leave_ it, Ebony," she threw back, "what I do is none of your business."  
  
"I beg to differ on that one..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Sooooo... _Alexander_... What'd you wanna talk to me about?" Gwen asked, biting her lip.  
  
"There are things... things I don't know; I know that."  
  
"I don't follow..."  
  
"What _happened_, you know..."  
  
"Oh,_ that_..."   
  
"Yes. That."  
  
"Well... what did you wanna know?"  
  
"What the hell was so bad he's got nightmares? What am I missing here? And... what you were doing there to start with?"  
  
~*~  
  
Trudy got up, laughing, as Bray followed with their clothes.  
  
"Come on before someone sees us..."  
  
"Yeah, guess it wouldn't be good to get caught naked by a warrior tribe..." he nodded, looking her up and down.  
  
"Funny. Gimme?" she said, reaching for her dress.  
  
"Now... what do I get in return?"  
  
Trudy rolled her eyes and gave him a quick peck before taking it from him.  
  
"Well, well... what _have_ we here?" a voice said, startling them...  
  
~*~  
  
"I'm not stupid like Bray; I don't answer to you."   
  
"Loverboy's not as... pliant as you think..." Ebony smirked. "Now... what have we here?" she asked, reaching into her hand...  
  
"The plans to the mall I see," Ebony said, smirking up at Danni. "I was going to come get some of these later. For business, of course."  
  
"You _would_ Ebony," Danni spat, "if you tell me what _you_ want them for, then maybe I'll tell you why I'm looking at them."  
  
"Revenge... against the whole damned city, Danni. Everyone who's wronged me."  
  
"Finally, we see eye to eye. Except... I'm just out to get Trudy. That whore has Bray wrapped around her little finger..."  
  
Ebony smirked. "_Now_ you're talkin' my language."  
  
~*~  
  
"I can't make out what they're saying..."  
  
"Lex is really going to be mad if he catches us, Ryan."  
  
Selene sighed, and jiggled Brady back and forth. If Trudy didn't get back soon, she's have to warm up some regular milk for Brady, when she knew full well Brady was still nursing. "Would you two _stop_?" she whispered, getting waved off by both KC and Ryan.  
  
"What's she saying about Billy Boy?"  
  
KC bit his lip. He should have told Lex exactly how it went down, and who Gwen was. She was surprised he didn't know already. "I don't know," KC lied, "but it can't be good."  
  
~*~  
  
"Well, well, well," Jaffa said, looking Trudy and Bray up and down, "I guess we've stumbled into something private here." He narrowed his eyes at Bray. "_Betrayer_. Zoot will hear of this."  
  
Trudy bit her lip as she pulled her dress back on the rest of the way. "Zoot fell from a balcony, Jaffa," she said, "I had to stand there and watch. And maybe what Zoot wants is for me to live my life as I wish, huh?"  
  
Jaffa spotted the pendant she was wearing. "Such a petty trinket is no accessories for the Supreme Mother." He scoffed. "And we won't tell if you won't."  
  
"Our little secret, huh?" Bray said with disdain in his voice. "No deal, I don't cut them with people like you."  
  
~*~  
  
"_Gwendolyn_, tell me what happened. Why were you there?"  
  
Gwen sat down on a step, joined by Lex only a few seconds later. "It was late at night, and I was with Billy and the rest, surveying the casino. He actually let me come along this time. I bugged him until he let me go... instead of staying in bed." She shuddered, and felt a jacket being placed around her shoulders. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem. Least I can do."  
  
"I was talking with the Smile... you know, Teeth, Lips, and Dimples?"  
  
Lex smirked. "Personally."  
  
"That's when I heard the kid say something about the Mallrats. I knew Billy Boy hated Mallrats. I figured I'd watch, that it was an older kid. But it wasn't."  
  
Lex's smirk fell, as he suddenly got what she was saying. "_You're_ a _Jackal_?"  
  
"_Were_ a Jackal, after what I did next."  
  
"I think he musta said some pretty bad things to the ki - KC, and, he looked in mental _and_ physical pain by the time I got there. So I smacked Billy. Right upside the head with a pool cue."  
  
Lex looked at her in disbelief. This, this - _girl_ - she had been a plaything for Billy Boy, and she smacked him upside the head with full knowledge of the consequences. But she'd been, or still _was_... a Jackal. "The rest is all you, then?"  
  
"I told him to go, and I didn't see how bad his arm was. But it wasn't... Selene?" Lex nodded. "It wasn't her fault. The bruise is so far up on his arm. I don't think she would have hurt him on _purpose_."  
  
Lex sighed. What was he going to do now? This girl had just made the perfect defense for Selene... and herself, if it ever came down to it.  
  
~*~  
  
Trudy felt an acute sharpness, and looked down.  
  
"Um, Bray... we've gotta get back now..."   
  
"So soon, Supreme Mother?"  
  
"I have a daughter to feed; I gotta go."  
  
"You're making excus---"  
  
But, Jaffa cut himself off as he saw she w_asn't_ making excuses, and two round wet spots began forming on the front of her dress.  
  
"Ohhhhh..."  
  
"SEE???!!!" she screeched. "I gotta go..." she mumbled, embarrassed.  
  
"Yeah, yeah; we're going, Trud..." Bray nodded, pulling his shirt on, keeping her behind him, and a safe distance from Jaffa.  
  
"I am alone now, but I will not always be..."  
  
"Yeah, well, I'll make it a point _not_ to be..." she muttered, running off, hand-in-hand with Bray...  
  
Jaffa smirked as he watched them go.  
  
"Time will come, Supreme Mother... Time will come..."  
  
~*~  
  
"You really don't know what he said, huh?"  
  
"Lex, I told you---"  
  
"Yeah, but if you know _anything_--- I mean, really, Gwen..." he half-pleaded with her.   
  
"Lex..." she sighed. "I just don't feel it's much my place---"  
  
"It's better I hear from you than KC..." he said quietly. "If I fly off the handle in front of you, that's better than scarin' the hell outta the kid... I'm gonna say somethin' to you that... well, I never said to anyone... Please?"   
  
~*~  
  
Trudy raced into the mall with Bray, panting.  
  
"Brady! Sel! Alice, where's my baby???" she demanded, grabbing her by the shoulders...  
  
Gwen sighed, and looked at Lex. "Tá mé Tuirseach," she told him, before realizing he probably didn't understand what she'd just said. She was just getting thrown to the edge of her candle with him, more than she ever had - well, differently - than she had been with Billy Boy.  
  
"What did you just say?"  
  
"It means I am tired in Gaelic." She tried to smile. "The one phrase I learned right away was 'Tá mé air meisce'."  
  
"What's that mean?"  
  
Gwen let a slight giggle escape. "It means, 'I am drunk.'"  
  
Lex rolled his eyes. "I'd have had cause for that a time ago."  
  
"Ah, but now, we have use for another - Gura slán an scéalai." At the raise of Lex's eyebrow, she smiled softly. "It means: May the bearer of the news be safe."  
  
"I think I like that one."  
  
Gwen nodded. "Me too." Then she sighed again. "If I knew anything more than I've told you, I _would_ tell you Ale - Lex."  
  
Lex smirked in that sexy, quirky way Gwen had come to notice he did. "Without any spite in your voice, I'm _so_ proud."  
  
~*~  
  
"Here, here," Selene said, handing Brady to Trudy. "She was fussing, I was about to go make her a bottle me'self."  
  
Trudy smiled. "Thanks Selene," she said, before nodding her head over to Ryan and KC. "What are they doin' exactly?"  
  
"Spying," Ryan replied without looking back, "Lex is talking to Gwen."  
  
Bray scooted next to them. "Make room for me?"  
  
~*~  
  
Teeth, Lips, and Dimples snuck out of the casino cautiously. They knew that if Billy Boy caught them, they'd be dead. More than dead, they'd be shredded. As they reached the sight of the mall by way of the beach, they saw Jaffa, and hid behind a piece of driftwood as two women appeared out of an entrance in the rocks.  
  
"I don't like this..."  
  
"...Gwennie needs to know..."  
  
"...but we can't get to her without being seen..." Defeated, the Triplets started back to the casino, sulking.  
  
~*~  
  
Ebony walked out onto the beach with Danni, and up to Jaffa, handing him the plans of the entire mall. "What's _she_ doing here?" Jaffa whined suspiciously, "This wasn't part of the deal, there was to be only one sign from Zoot."  
  
"Sign from Zoot my a-"  
  
"Heh heh, Danni," Ebony said, "she wants to get rid of Trudy and her rugrat as much as you want them. She's already made a deal with the Jackals."  
  
"And if you think I'm going to let some cape wearing, Michael Bolton haircut guy stop my from that, you're nuts."  
  
Jaffa smirked evilly. "This could work after all..."  
  
~*~  
  
Gwen looked musingly up at Lex; he was different than he appeared upon close inspection... Sure, he was still sexy, but...  
  
Well, when Trudy had called him an "old bear", there was a double meaning there... He may have had a fierce growl, but he also had a fiercely protective nature...   
  
She smiled as he pulled her to her feet and dragged her off.  
  
"Hey, where'd they go?"  
  
"Behind ya, Ryan."  
  
"Gah! Um... hi, Lex?"  
  
"Larry, Moe, Curly."   
  
Bray rolled his eyes.  
  
"Lex---"  
  
"Yes?" he smirked.  
  
"Trudy and I came across the leader of the Chosen on the beach---"  
  
"And you were doing stupid things rather than _alerting_ the _security_?!"  
  
"We got away?"  
  
"Twit. Where's Trudy now?"  
  
"Feeding Brady."   
  
"KC, c'mere, got... a job for you, kay?"  
  
"Job? Really?"  
  
"Yeah, we're gonna hafta double up security, right?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Keep an eye on Patsy and Chloe."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Yeah, keep them in the mall; they're stubborn and know-it-alls; they need looking after, kay?"   
  
"Lex---"  
  
"Out of it, Tai-San." Lex said, putting his jacket on...  
  
~*~  
  
The Smile decided to sneak out and warn Gwen anyways; Billy Boy was distracted with Top Hat at the moment...   
  
Suddenly, they ran upon Jaffa, Danni and Ebony on the beach...  
  
"One of the robed freaks talking with a mallrat and a loco!"  
  
"Not just _any_ robed freak; the guardian!"  
  
"And, not just any loco... _Ebony_..."   
  
~*~  
  
"So, Big G, we'll talk to the Jackals, you get your people ready," Ebony said.  
  
Jaffa narrowed his eyes at Ebony. He'd never liked her, and he was going to go back on her living the first advantage he got. "Of course, sign of Zoot."  
  
"Sign of Zoot my a-"  
  
"DANNI!"  
  
~*~  
  
"Uh, Lex?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
Ryan laughed at the sight in front of him. Apparently Lex had forgotten he'd been dragging Gwen, and had tried to put on the other arm of his jacket... including Gwen in it. "Planning on smuggling her into a bar?" he asked, a smirk on his face.  
  
"Huh?" Lex asked, before looking down to his right. "Oh, hi -_ Gwendolyn_ - " He smirked as she jabbed a finger into his side, and let go of her arm. "- but you looked so cute glaring up at me with those green eyes of yours."  
  
"Shut up," Gwen said, but smiling. "And you better not think you're going anywhere _near_ that casino without me."  
  
"Yes, _mother_...."  
  
Bray laughed, and looked at Selene and Ryan as Lex and Gwen walked off.   
  
"Perfect."  
  
~*~  
  
KC walked down the halls of the mall grumbling, looking for Patsy and Chloe. When he finally found them, they were still in the cafe, with Alice, Ellie, Jack, and Dal. "Lex said I have to watch you two," he told them.  
  
Patsy and Chloe smiled. "GOODIE!" they said, each grabbing an arm of KC's and latching on tight.  
  
"We'll have lots of fun KC, we promise," Chloe said.  
  
Patsy nodded in agreement, trying to be careful, since she was holding KC's bruised arm like a barnacle. "Yeah," she told him, "we won't even put makeup on you this time."  
  
KC grumbled. Lex was going to hear about this when he got the chance.  
  
~*~  
  
"That's so sweet--- you sparing his feelings like that..." Gwen smiled up at him as they were walking, checking the permitter.  
  
"Don't know _what_ you're talkin' about..."  
  
"Lex... why else would ya have him to look after the girls?"  
  
"Because... they're not very bright and need lookin' after?"   
  
Gwen snorted and rolled her eyes.  
  
"Suuuurrrreeee, Lex..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"We both know you were trying to spare his little pride..."  
  
"Am I the type to do that? No... If I wanted him to stay, I'd've just said, 'park your little butt and reside yerself to stayin', or I'll lock ya in a room'..."   
  
Gwen rolled her eyes at him.  
  
~*~  
  
"Come on KC, let's play dollies!"  
  
"No, no; let's play dress-up!"   
  
"Let's play you go make KC a snack?"  
  
Chloe rolled her eyes.  
  
"Come _on_... okay, house? You can be the daddy..."   
  
KC grimaced; Lex was _definitely_ getting an earful when he got back...  
  
~*~  
  
"Trudy, will ya stop pacing?"  
  
"She's got colic, Bray; you hafta walk 'em..."   
  
"She wants to go to _sleep_..."   
  
"I carried her and gave birth to her, I think I know what she wants..."   
  
Bray sighed as Brady lay her head on Trudy's shoulder, tugging at her mother's hair gently as she went to sleep, her little fist half in her mouth...    
  
~*~  
  
"Omigod, Ryan! It's... _them_!" Selene squeaked as the triplets walked in.  
  
"Relax, Red."  
  
"We're only here."  
  
"To warn you."  
  
"About what?" Ryan asked warily.  
  
"At first it was Billy Boy..."   
  
"But now it's something more..."  
  
"Ebony and one of your fellow Mall Rats is meeting with the Guardian as we speak..."   
  
~*~  
  
"DIMPLES! TEETH! LIPS!" Billy boy growled. Where _were_ those three? They knew better than to go off like they obviously had. He'd checked the shoreline, they weren't there.  
  
Top Hat smirked as Billy came back into the conference room. "Whatsa matter, Bill? Lose your three singing hookers?"  
  
Billy grimaced. "No, Gwe -" Billy Boy looked at Top Hat, and swore. "They went to warn her!"  
  
"Warn who?"  
  
"Remember the redhead?"  
  
Top Hat smirked in remembrance. "Vividly... where is she?"  
  
"She set upon herself for a one-woman mutiny, and ran. We're attacking the mall, since she ran there."  
  
"Oh yeah, and a Mallrat came to help you with that, I remember." Top Hat leaned forward. "What are you going to do about the Smile, then?"  
  
Billy boy looked out a casino window. "They're going down along with her."  
  
~*~  
  
"Ebony..." Selene sneered. "...so she finally did it, she finally betrayed us."  
  
Ryan put an arm around Selene's shoulders. "Don't worry, Selene," he assured her, "everything will turn out fine."  
  
"What about the Mallrat with them? Who would Ebony _actually _get along with enough to join forces with them?"  
  
"She had black hair..."  
  
"....And a leaf on her arm..."  
  
"....Ebony called her Danni."  
  
Selene and Ryan's eyes went wide. Danni was the _last_ person they'd have thought would betray them to the Jackals.  
  
"She was at the casino earlier..."  
  
"...talking to Billy..."  
  
"...About getting Gwen back."  
  
Selene couldn't help but somewhat cheer up at that. "She's out patrolling with Lex," she told the Triplets, whose eyes went wide as dinner plates.  
  
"She isn't."  
  
"Going after Billy Boy."  
  
"Is she?"  
  
Ryan shrugged. "They must have been interesting," he told Selene "her and Billy Boy I mean."  
  
Dimples frowned. "He wasn't nice to her..."  
  
"...even though she was nice to us." Lips also frowned.  
  
Then came for Teeth, and she smiled instead. "...and she never got to experience the real thing."  
  
Selene and Ryan sighed. Could those three be _being_ anymore cryptic?"  
  
~*~  
  
"Fine, pretend you're all tough."  
  
"Fine, I will."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Fine."  
  
If anyone else had been with Lex and Gwen, they'd have gone stir crazy by now. They were two blocks from the casino and were _still_ arguing about why Lex had told KC to watch Patsy and Chloe. "Let's talk about something else then," Gwen suggested.  
  
Lex looked at her. "Are you ever just quiet?"  
  
"No. Are you ever romantic?"  
  
"When I like the girl, sure." He glanced over at her again as they walked, and smirked. "Did you know you're beautiful when you scowl?"  
  
"I'm not scowling." She looked over at Lex. "But thanks anyway."  
  
"What exactly _were_ you at the casino?"  
  
"Ever seen Pretty Woman?"  
  
"On a date once, maybe." he noticed she flinched at that. "Why?"  
  
"I was Julia Roberts." Lex looked confused. "You know, Viv?"  
  
"Oh, the hot redhead." He smirked at her. "Sorry, no preference to them."  
  
"I wouldn't care." She shrugged. "That's what I was. I was what she did. A call girl, prostitute, hooker..."  
  
"I _get_ the idea. He was your.."  
  
"..Pimp."  
  
~*~  
  
As ebony and Danni walked back into the mall throughout the sewer entrance, they smirked at each other. "Poor, poor Trudy," Ebony said, "taken away from Bray _again_."  
  
"And poor Bray," Danni replied, "whoever will he turn to when it's all over?"  
  
~*~  
  
Lex grimaced as he stepped inside the casino; Top Hat _and_ Billy Boy...   
  
"You keep back; he's mine." Lex growled.  
  
"You can't take them both on!" she whispered harshly.   
  
"What he did--- he's _mine_---"  
  
"He did worse to _me_--- I guess..."  
  
Lex's eyes exploded with rage and he stomped into the middle of the room.   
  
Gwen rolled her eyes.   
  
"_Why_ did I wanna go alone with him again?" she muttered under her breath...  
  
~*~  
  
Bray stroked Trudy's soft hair as she slept in his lap; Brady snoozing cuddled safe in her mother's arms, her cheek rested against Trudy's; her fist in her mouth.   
  
"My girls..." he whispered, dropping a kiss on top of both their heads.  
  
He'd be damned if Jaffa was gonna come here and take them away... not now, not _ever_...  
  
~*~  
  
"Ebony getting _Danni_ to defect; who'd've thought?" Alice mused.  
  
"Danni's father _did_ start this all; maybe it's genetic?" Ellie put in helpfully.   
  
"Don't start, El." Jack sighed.  
  
"He's cute..." Teeth said, reaching to touch Jack's hair.  
  
"Yeah, you know what they say about redheaded guys..." Dimples smirked.   
  
"Got a name, sweetcheeks?"  
  
"Back off; mine!" Ellie yelled.   
  
**


	3. Like a Bad Horror Movie...

**Bray ran into Danni as he left his room, closing the door so Trudy and Brady could have a good rest. "Danni," he said, "what are you doing up here?"  
  
"As co-leader," she replied, "my room is only a few doors down." She plastered a sultry smile on her face. "Think you can resist?"  
  
"More than you think. Trudy and Brady are moving into mine."  
  
~*~ Ebony walked into the cafe, and spotted the Smile, her  smug attitude shot right out of her. What were _they_ doing here? "What are _they_ doing here?" she questioned, her eyes becoming slits. "They're _Jackals_."  
  
"And you're a traitor," Alice told her, "what's your point?"  
  
"I'm not a traitor."  
  
"Yes, you are..."  
  
"....We saw you on the beach..."  
  
"...With that robed freak the Guardian and another Mallrat."  
  
Ebony glared at the Smile. "You three are little rats yourself. What did you think you were going to do, warn poor little _Gwen_?" She scoffed. "As you speak, she's probably off snogging with Lex."  
  
"She is not!" Ellie protested.  
  
Ryan rubbed a circle on Selene's back. "Yeah," he told her, "they're not even close to that. She just told him he wasn't going anywhere near the casino without her."  
  
"You guys are so stupid... she's a _Jackal_. She can't do _good_."  
  
KC looked at Ebony. "Well, she saved _me_," he told her, stepping forward. "That's good." The Smile nodded in agreement with him, while getting a small smile of thanks from Ellie.  
  
~*~  
  
Gwen stood behind a column of the casino so she wasn't going to be seen. She didn't want to have to go back into the life she had at this place. No way, no how. "Unless they threaten people I care about," she vowed silently. She snuck a peek to see what was going on with Lex.  
  
"Well, well," Billy Boy said, "looks like we might not have to go after the entire Tribe after all."  
  
Top Hat smirked. "So, where's the hooker?" When Lex glared at him, he shook his hands in front of him. "Oh yeah, you're _real_ scary, Lex."  
  
"Stay away from the mall, you hear me?" Lex growled, before pushing Billy Boy up against a wall. "And _you_-"  
  
"Lex don't!" Gwen hadn't even given herself time to remember she wanted to stay hidden. All she knew was Lex could get himself seriously hurt against Top Hat _and_ Billy Boy. She stopped dead in her tracks when Lex released his grip on Billy Boy.  
  
Billy looked over at Gwen standing there as he walked over next to Top Hat. "My pet," he said, "you've returned."  
  
"Not returned, merely visiting."  
  
"How sweet? I'm sure you heard Top was coming and you just _couldn't_ stay away..."  
  
Gwen flinched as Top Hat pulled her to him. "I was always his favorite."  
  
"That you were, but you were mine too, you know that." He ran a hand down Gwen's face, then neck, and kept going further down. "Now, let's see what we can do with all that lovely, _lovely_ fear, shall we?"**  
  
**_~Flashback:  
  
Lex smiled proudly over at KC.  
  
"Zan's gonna have a baby; that's why she's been actin' so funny..."  
  
KC nodded.  
  
"That's great, Lex... but, I think it had something to do with what  Top Hat did to her..."  
  
"Whaddya mean, KC? What'd Top Hat do to her?"   
  
"It's... she didn't tell you?" KC hedged.   
  
"KC."   
  
KC sighed.   
  
"He... he threw her down on the bed and was tryin' to make her kiss him and stuff... she was screamin'... but I took care of it..."  
  
"You? How?"  
  
"Kicked him in the nuts." KC smirked proudly.    
  
Lex  made a face, realizing that must've been when his men came and locked them all in that cage and tried to set fire to the mall, like when he and Ebony'd found them...~  
  
_He flashed back to reality when he heard Gwen cry out.  
  
"I didn't kill ya for what you did the first time because Zan begged me not to... but damn if anything's gonna stop me now..."   
  
~*~  
  
"Bray... that's---"  
  
"The arrangement we originally had? What we should've stuck with? Yes, I know, Danni."   
  
Danni pouted.   
  
"But... how will you sleep---"  
  
"Brady sleeps through the night, and Trudy won't give her her own room anyways at least for a while..."   
  
~*~  
  
"_I'm_ the traitor?! You're listening to _Jackals_?! Worse than that, the dimmest bulbs they got?!"   
  
"We resent that!"   
  
"We're not only smarter than you, Ebony..."  
  
"We're more talented!"   
  
Selene made a face; they weren't helping their case against Ebony a bit at all...  
  
Ryan frowned as he saw Danni following Bray.  
  
"Uhhhh... Bray?"  
  
Bray looked at Ryan. He really wasn't in the mood. "_What_?" he said.  
  
"There's something we gotta tell you -"  
  
Ebony scoffed. "Yeah, and the heard it from the dim Jackal trio over there," she teased, giving Danni a look. "I'm heading up to my room, _thank_ you."  
  
As Ebony walked away, everyone looking at her leaving saw her grab Danni's arm. The triplets (or the Smile) got somwwhat excited at this. "See, we told you..." "...they were up to no good..." "...it proves we aren't lying."  
  
Salene looked at Bray, biting her lip. "Ebony and Danni are planning something..."  
  
"Yeah," Alice continued, "the trio over there saw them of the beach, meeting with..."  
  
"_Jaffa_..." Bray's eyes narrowed. "...that guy's going down once and for all."  
  
~*~  
  
"You bastard!" Lex screamed, going after Top Hat, knocking him off his chair and backwards as he tackled him.  
  
Gwen noticed Billy Boy was about to make a move to knock Lex out, so she rammed into him, knocking him over and into a row of arcade games. "You wanna play," she panted, holding her side, "we'll play baby."  
Top Hat smirked at her.  
  
"Bring it on, little girl..."   
  
Lex reached out and kicked him, right at the buldge in his jeans.  
  
"Awwww... did I ruin the south's rise?" he smirked as Gwen elbowed Billy Boy in the neck...  
  
And, the fight was on...  
  
~*~  
  
By the time they got back to the mall, they were a bit battered and sore. But, they could honestly say they'd won...   
  
"Forgot how much fun tearin' up a bar was..." Lex smirked.  
  
"That was _not_ fun!" she screeched at him.  
  
"Don't be such a banschee..." he laughed. "Didn't it give ya at least a _little_ satisfaction beatin' the holy hell outta those bastards? They had it comin'--- if we hadn't've had to split when they got backup we could've---"  
  
"What? Killed them? Taken a life? No, thank you... bad as they are, I don't want to have blood on my hands..."  
  
"Well spoken; at least my sister isn't like _you_, Lex!"   
  
~*~   
  
Ryan walked into the kid's room, where all three of them and Selene were sacked out on the floor on a bunch of pillows; they'd been playing some kind of board game and drifted off...   
  
Ryan dropped a blanket over them all and kissed Selene on the cheek.   
  
"You'll make a great mom someday..." he whispered...   
  
~*~   
  
"Bray... don't leave me..."  
  
"Trudy, calm down; I'm trying to protect---"  
  
"By leaving me alone? Venerable? How many horror movies have you _watched_, really?"  
  
"Trudy... this isn't a horror movie? It's real life?"  
  
"This life isn't like a horror movie? Geez, Bray... it's like 'Children of the Corn' and 'Village of the Damned' all rolled into one at times..."    
  
~*~  
  
"Ellie, shut it!" Gwen barked. "This does _not_ involve you!"  
  
Ellie squeaked. "You're taking his side?"  
  
"No, it's _private_, Ellie!"  
  
Lex watched Ellie walk off. "You're more like me than you thi - OW!" He glared at Gwen. "I just saved you from getting... getting.... felt up!"  
  
"It was well deserved." She sighed. "I'm just... energy to work out?"  
  
Lex smirked. "I've got a cure for that..."  
  
~*~  
  
Salene was having dreams. Not necessarily bad ones, just muddled ones. There was Ryan, and there was Bray. Then there was the baby....  
  
"Oh, you're so precious," she said, only the last word coming out in the non-dream world, "I want you so much..."  
  
~*~  
  
Ebony practically _threw_ Danni into her room. "They _know_!"  
  
"What? _how_?"  
  
"The _smile_!" she hissed. "They _saw_ us with Jaffa!"  
  
"_What_?"  
  
~*~  
  
KC woke up and rubbed his eyes sleepily, hearing Selene muttering something about "I want you so much..."  
  
He grimaced and walked out of the room, _not_ wanting to hear her dirty little dream if that's what it was...   
  
He walked towards the cafe`, suddenly hungry. But, when he got there, Lex was already there flirting with Gwen...   
  
"Sooo... my room or yours?"  
  
"I really don't think---"  
  
"See, that's good... thinkin's bad... we should just get into more action...  
  
KC made a gaggy face and walked outside, bumping into Ryan...  
  
~*~   
  
"They'd've held a trial? Locked us up?" Danni said doubtfully.  
  
"They have only heresay."  
  
"Then, what's the problem? The idiots usually give people the benefit of the doubt?"  
  
"Not this time, Danni..."   
  
~*~  
  
"Guardian... when is the time?"  
  
"Zoot will lead me a sign!"  
  
"Sign my arse--- those Mall Rats are goin' _down_..." Billy Boy growled.  
  
"Like the Titanic..." Top Hat put in, his voice still squeaky...  
  
~*~  
  
"Bray, face it, our like is a science fiction, horror, drama, action, _and_ comedy movie all rolled into one!" Trudy said, after putting brady down so she could be a little more animated in her words. "If you leave us alone, something's gonig to _happen_ to us."  
  
Bray sighed. "Right now, at least until this new little problem..."  
  
"What new little problem? _Us_?"  
  
"No, Danni and Ebony. There's something you need to know, Trudy..."  
  
~*~  
  
"KC?" Ryan asked. "How long you been up?"  
  
"Long enough to see Gwen and Lex in the cafe," he said, sitting down. "It's just gross."  
  
Ryan laughed. "Well, you know Lex, never one for subtlety."  
  
"Yeah, but... couldn't he take it easy?" Then he looked over at Ryan, who was leaning against the doorway. "I mean, I think they just came back from the casino."  
  
Ryan sighed. "So that's where they went."  
  
~*~  
  
"And here I thought you might actually be different," she said, suirming away from Lex. "That's all _any_ guy ever thinks about, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah, pretty mu-"  
  
"You can't make me! Just becuase I happen to have saved your brother, and then you saved me from Top Hat and Billy, doesn't mean I owe you a damned thing!"  
  
"That's not what I'm say-"  
  
"I don't care!"  
  
Lex watched Gwen walk off. Just for a minute, he thought she was jsut a crazy chick. Then he remembered what she'd told him about her place at the casino, and swore. "Geez Lex," a voice said, "what'd she do? Turn you down?"  
  
~*~  
  
Jaffa lead his Chosen to the beach, meeting Billy Boy and Top Hat with their own. "Those two don't get that they're getting stabbed in the back," he said to them.  
  
"Good," Billy Boy said, "because I've got my own little witch to deal with."  
  
Top Hat grimaced, clearing his throat. "And let's hope she's not joined at the hip with Lex."  
  
"That wimp?" Jaffa looked at Billy and Top Hat. "Nothing, we'll take care of him."  
  
~*~  
  
"What do you _mean_, not this time, Ebony?"  
  
"Bray saw Jaffa on the beach before the Smile saw _us_."  
  
They climbed up through the sewer entrance, and headed around towards the beach. "Then we better hope we have enough to take them down."  
  
~*~  
  
"Ebony? Jaffa? Danni?" she repeated dumbly, sitting down.  
  
"Trud---"  
  
"I'll rip their hair out!"  
  
"Trudy, the baby?"  
  
"They think for one _second_ they are _touching_---"   
  
Bray sighed and picked up Brady, who was starting to fuss.  
  
"Ohhhh..."  
  
"Don't worry; it makes you feel safer, I'll stay right here with you."  
  
"It does."   
  
"Then, I won't leave your side." he swore.  
  
~*~  
  
"Leave it, May."   
  
"Oooooh, big bad Lex loosin' his prowess?"  
  
"I said leave it!" he snapped.   
  
He looked up as KC and Ryan walked back in.  
  
"Hia, boys... just discussin' the downfall of l'il Lex---"  
  
"MAY!!!"  
  
~*~  
  
"Ladies, ladies..." Jaffa greeted magnamaniously.   
  
"Skip it, freak." Danni said. "Let's just get down to business."  
  
"She may be a stupid whiny bitch, but you gotta admire the attitude..."  
  
"Shut up, Billy Boy," Danni said. "Now that's we're all here..."  
  
Top Hat walked up. "No," he said. "_Now_ we're all here."  
  
Ebony galred at Jaffa. "He wasn't part of the deal."  
  
"His people, plus _my_ people," Billy told Ebony, and Danni, who was glaring holes at them, "plus the _Chosen_. We'll be unbeatable..."  
  
Ebony scoffed. "Not if those twits inside actually believe your twits," Danni scorned, and smirked at the reaction on Billy's face. "What, feel betrayed? because then we're on the same page."  
  
Jaffa smirked, as did Billy and Top Hat. This Danni was turning out more cooperative than they'd hoped she would. Maybe she _could_ be spared...  
  
~*~  
  
Ryan looked at May. "Shut up, May."  
  
"Why _should_ I?" May responded. "Lex is the one making goo-goo eyes at the Jackal!"  
  
"Gwen isn't a Jackal..." Lips said, putting her hands on her hips.  
  
Dimples nodded, narrowing her eyes at May. "...she was never even an official..."  
  
"...she was just fun for Billy and his friends." Teeth finished, and the three took a step towards May.  
  
May started laughing at that one. "Oh yeah, that's SO much better than me, Lex."  
  
"She is!" KC defended, "She's not a bi-"  
  
Alice took this oppurtunity to put her hands over KC's mouth. "THa'ts not going to help either," she told him, "and if you get hurt, I don't think May would survive Gwen."  
  
~*~  
  
Gwen ran smack dab into Bray as she had kept running up floors. "Woah," Bray said, holding her arms. He had told Trudy he was just leaving to go to the bathroom, but... Gwen looked upset. "What's got you all upset?"  
  
"Lex!"  
  
Bray sighed. "That figures..."  
  
"No, I'd already told him what I was, and he.. he..."  
  
"Came on a little too strong? Yeah, that's Lex, but you'll get used to it."  
  
Gwen shook her head. "As soon as everything's settled down, I'm going to go to the farm."**  
  
**Sleep did not come easy that night.   
  
Bray sat on top of the covers, watching Trudy and Brady sleep. He could feel it--- a tenseness in the air... something was coming...   
  
~*~  
  
May slipped into Lex's room, where he was dozing, his bare torso uncovered, and he looked so sexy and peaceful.  
  
"Lex..." she whispered, slipping onto the top of him.  
  
"Mmmm... Gwen..." he whispered sleepily.   
  
"No, silly... it's May..." she murmured, slipping her hands under the covers.  
  
His eyes popped wide open.  
  
"May! What are you doin'?!"  
  
"Can't've been _that_ long for ya, Lexie-babe..."  
  
"Get off?" he said, shoving her off the bed.  
  
May looked up at him, pouting, as he got out of bed, unmindful of his commando state.   
  
"Lex, I--- Ohhhhh! You... ooooooh!" Gwen shrieked as she stuck her head into the room.  
  
"Gwen, I---" he started to go after her.  
  
"Lex!"  
  
"What?!" he snapped irritably.  
  
"You're naked???"  
  
~*~  
  
Ryan sat on the floor in the kids' room, watching Selene, Patsy and Chloe sleep. KC was at the window... watching, as if expecting something...  
  
"KC? Go to sleep?" Ryan yawned.  
  
"In a little?"  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"I dunno... something doesn't feel right..."  
  
Danni paced the front of the mall with Ebony. "Where ARE they?" she whispered in a hiss, "they should be here by now..."  
  
"They had to go get all their people, Danni!"  
  
"Well, they're taking too long???"  
  
~*~  
  
"Oh, shut _up _May!" Lex said, pulling on some jeans and running after Gwen. Unfortunately, when he caught up with her, she was watching Ebony and Danni pacing from a balcony. "Gwen?"  
  
"I don't want to talk to you," she said, not even turning around. "It was all for _nothing_. We got to the casino, trashed them, for _nothing_." She turned to Lex. "They're gonig to take me _back_, Lex... and it'll be _worse_ this time..."  
  
Lex pulled Gwen close to him, even though he didn't know why. "No, they're not taking you back..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Trudy, Trudy wake _up_!"  
  
"Huh? What?"  
  
Bray was rushing around, trying to make room under the bed for Trudy and Brady. "You've gotta hide."  
  
"Bray, it's late.... jsut come to bed?"  
  
"Trudy, jsut do it! I'll make sure everything's okay?"  
  
~*~  
  
KC tugged on Ryan's shoulder. "Ryan, Ryan!"  
  
"What?" Ryan looked out the window, which KC was pointing at furiously. "What? What am I suppsoed to see?"  
  
"_Chosen_, Ryan. They're coming!"  
  
"Bray..." Trudy protested, as she was slid under the bed.  
  
"Get under there; keep the baby quiet? Please, trust me?" he begged, giving her a quick peck on the mouth before handing her the baby.  
  
Trudy sighed and slipped under the bed.  
  
"If you say so, Bray..." she said softly...  
  
~*~  
  
Gwen looked up at Lex in shock, but did not struggle.  
  
"Lex..."  
  
"I mean it; I'd kill them first?"   
  
"Lex, what about May?"  
  
"She came in, all right? Doesn't mean anything--- I was _sleeping_ f'godsakes!"  
  
"Naked?"  
  
~*~  
  
Ryan woke up Selene quickly.  
  
"Sel! Take the kids and go! Hide! Chosen!"  
  
KC huddled Patsy and Chloe out of the door with her.  
  
"Okay, so what do we do now?"  
  
"We nothing, you go too."  
  
"No _way_!"  
  
"I mean it, KC, go or I'll tie you up and have Selene _drag_ you..."  
  
"Danni, look!" Ebony said, pointing up at Lex and Gwen. She smirked. "The two new lovebirds, and poor them..."  
  
"...torn apart before they can do anything, not even a first kiss." She looked at Ebony. "Let's go meet the troops, shall we?"  
  
"We shall."  
  
~*~  
  
KC begrudgingly ran after Salene, Patsy, and Chloe. He didn't even wave to Bray, who was running down the stairs. "Stupid Lex, stupid Ryan," he was grumbling.  
  
"KC, get into that room now!"  
  
"FINE, GEEZ!"  
  
"We can help, Bray..."  
  
"...we won't turn our backs..."  
  
"...we promise."  
  
"Fine, you three can help, just down backstab us, or you're dead! Got it?"  
  
"We..."  
  
"...got it..."  
  
"...Bray."  
  
~*~  
  
"Oh, you two better kiss now," May yelled, as she walked down to the landing with Ryan and Bray. "Because you won't have the time to do it later." She smirked. "That girl is one of the first to go."  
  
Lex let go of Gwen to go after May, but was surprised when he felt Gwen's hands close over his to stop him. He looked back at her. "What'd you come to tell me?" he asked, forgetting about May for the moment. "Gwen, what did you come to tell me?"  
  
"What does it _matter_?"  
  
That's when Alice and Ellie stepped in. "She's going to go back to the farm," Ellie said, "and so are the two of us."  
  
"Ellie, no!" Jack said. "If you go..."  
  
"We can always come_ back_. The farm is Mallrat property."  
  
Jack smiled, looking at Dal. "I love that girl."  
  
"Trudy and Brady are safe," Bray said, looking around at everyone. "But we need help."  
  
"You've.."  
  
"...got..."  
  
"...us."  
  
Ryan smiled. "We've got em," he said. "And we've got the element of knowing where we are. Even those blueprints can't help Ebony and Danni."  
  
"We've been here longer," Lex said, putting an arm around Gwen, who slid one around his waist. "and we know they're coming."  
  
"And they're gonig down," Gwen and the Triplets said in unison before smirking.  
  
"Poor Billy Boy..." Gwen said, looking at the triplets  
  
"...Top Hat and Jaffa..."  
  
"...they're gonig to be in for..."  
  
"...a _big_ surprise."  
  
Jaffa and his minions strode into the mall like they owned the place.   
  
"Betrayer!" he smirked at Bray.  
  
"You stay where you are..." Bray warned, pointing a torch at him.  
  
"We have come for the Supreme Mother and the infant goddess..." he said, eerily calm... almost like the killer in a horror movie before they slash someone...   
  
~*~  
  
"I'm scared..." Patsy said, throwing herself onto KC.  
  
KC sighed and put an awkard arm around her.   
  
"Patsy... it's okay? Lex and Bray and Ryan are taking care of everything, right now..."   
  
"How can you be so confident?" Chloe wanted to know.  
  
"Because I am, that's all..."  
  
"He's right... Ryan and Bray are out there, and... Lex is tougher even than Ebony?" Selene tried to soothe.  
  
KC nodded, trying to calm Patsy down...  
  
~*~  
  
"You just back up and get _out_ of the mall, before you become part of the decor..." Lex growled, clutching a big metal stick.   
  
"Save it, Lex." Ebony snapped.  
  
"You boys are in over your heads... and _far_ too outnumbered to do anything..."   
  
Suddenly, from upstairs, there was a sound of a wailing child, and Jaffa gave the signal for the minions to disperse, and the battle was on...   
  
They were figting the best they could, but, there were so many, and... of course, a few made it upstairs...   
  
"Let _go_ of me!"  Trudy screamed as they dragged her out from under the bed, another grabbing Brady. "Get your hands off her! Be careful--- she's just a baby!"   
  
KC heard from the other room and got up to go see, but, it was too late, as that room began to fill with Chosen minions too...  
  
Lex sat in his cage after the fight and watched what was going on out in the central area of the mall. Billy and Top Hat were holding Gwen down on the fountain, and they were all turned towards the Smile.  
  
"Please Billy, let her go..."  
  
"...we'll be good this time..."  
  
"...she loves-"  
  
Billy Boy glared at them. "_Loves_ who?" he questioned, stroking down from Gwen's cheek. "_Lex_?" When the Smile nodded, he smacked Gwen's cheek, causing her to fall back into the fountain. He stood up. "Gwen has never felt love for _anything_ except her sisters - and she left them, didn't she?"  
  
"She became Billy's property," Top Hat smirked, as Danni sat down on his lap. "And that's what she'll remain for the rest of her life."  
  
"Just like the Supreme Mother to Jaffa... she's his now..." Danni smirked at her words, and looked over at Bray, faking a pout. "...this could all have been avoided if you'd just picked _me_."  
  
~*~  
  
Trudy was sobbing in the room she was beging contained in. The Jackals, Chosen, and Tribe Circus had decided to split up the mall into three sections, one for each of their tribes. She knew that Jaffa would push the ceremony for the true incarnate of Zoot, and she didn't want that. She wanted Bray back.  
  
~*~  
  
Bray thought about the casualties of the fight. Dal and Chloe, May. Some of the Chosen, some Jackals, and some Tribe Circus. Ranks of those three tribes had decreased by at least half, and Bray knew that Ebony wasnt' gonig to last long.  
  
But he wasn't mostly worried about Ebony, or Danni. They would get what they deserved. He was worried about Brady and Trudy. What if she went back into the mode of "Supreme Mother" again? That could spell major trouble.  
  
~*~  
  
Ryan had only been put in a cage with Selene because he had begged. _him_... _begged _. It had been no worse than Lex, who had Gwen ripped from his arms.   
  
"Hey Lex man?" he asked.  
  
"WHAT?" Lex snapped.  
  
"What's got you so sore?"  
  
"_Gwen_. She just... gave _up_."  
  
"Billy was going to kill you." Ryan tried to smile. "She likes you?"  
  
Lex sighed, and looked back at the center of the cafe. It had first been to repay her. Then it was because he wanted to right any wrongs against Zan, then there was bedding her... but now, it was different. It wasnt' jsut to protect her now. It was to protect her _forever_. He sighed again. "Yeah, Ry, I know."  
  
~*~  
  
KC watched Patsy, huddled up into a little ball, sobbing. He didn't know how to make this better--- Chloe and Dal were_ dead_. He couldn't fix that. She was petrified out of her mind, he could see that...  
  
Tenatively, he put a gentle hand on her back, but she cringed away from him and he bit his lip.   
  
"Patsy... just me..." he whispered. "It's gonna be okay..."   
  
"They're _dead_! _We're_ going to die!"   
  
"No, no... they'll have to get through me to get to you, and even then I'll hide ya best I can?"   
  
"Didn't work for Trudy..."  
  
"Trudy had a crying baby; that's kinda hard to hide... I'll look after you, I promise, okay?"  
  
Patsy nodded and lay her head on his lap.  
  
KC sighed, looking down at her and let his hand drop to her hair.   
  
_"C'mon, guys... anytime you wanna make with the Superman stuff would be good..." _ he thought silently.   
  
~*~  
  
"I want my little Mall Rat slaves to paint the symbol of Power and Chaos into the center of the mall." Jaffa said.   
  
"We won't do it!" Ellie screamed.   
  
"Oh, you will... especially Bray... and, you will watch the ceremony..."   
  
"Ceremony?" Bray asked, swallowing hard.  
  
"The true incarnation of Zoot--- the planets are almost in perfect alignment for the ceremony... Zoot will flow through me, the Guardian of his word, and concieve his incarnation with the Supreme Mother."    
  
Bray stood, struck dumb for a moment, until the true implication of his words kicked in and he began struggling against the guards.  
  
"You're not gonna touch her, you sick bastard!"   
  
"Now, now... we can't have you upsetting things, turncoat."   
  
"You touch her and I kill you, I swear it! She doesn't want this--- Zoot wouldn't have wanted this shit!"   
  
"I think I know better than you what Zoot would have wanted."  
  
"I am his brother! His older brother! I know what he wanted, damnit!"   
  
Lex watched Bray dully. It was likely too much to hope for everything to turn out--- already two of their own and May, who _had_ at least been fighting for their side, were dead. He gave Dal a hard time, but... well, Dal had been a good guy...  
  
And Chloe... well, she was a child. Just a little girl... He hoped KC and Patsy were all right, since they were barricaded upstairs and he couldn't see or hear them from here...   
  
~*~  
  
"Into the robes, Supreme Mother."  
  
"It's too hot for those stupid things!"  
  
"I have orders to make sure you get into them or _put_ you in them myself."   
  
Trudy threw something at his head.   
  
"I won't do it! I'm not your damned Supreme Mother and I won't wear them!"   
  
The guard snapped his fingers and two of them ripped the dress off her and put her into the silk robes...  
  
~*~  
  
After  all the Mallrats had been put away in their cages again, Jaffa, Top Hat, and Billy Boy stood where the sign was supposed to be painted. A guard come down from upstairs and threw Trudy's old dress on the floor.  
  
"The Supreme Mother's unworthy robes have been torn from her," the guard explained, with a face like stone, "she in in her silken garments as we speak feeding the Divine Child."  
  
Jaffa couldn't hide the grimace on his face. "As it is meant to be," he said, dismissing the guard. 'Power and Chaos!"  
  
"Power and Chaos!"  
  
"Everything will be all right after the ceremony," Jaffa told Billy and Top Hat as he turned to them. "It will all be in place."  
  
"All right my _ass_!" Gwen shouted, getting a smack so hard, it sent her down to the floor. She looked up at Billy, Top Hat and Jaffa. "You will all pay," she said, spitting some blood out of her mouth, "I promise you that. You will all pay."  
  
Billy scoffed as she walked off towards where the Smile had barricaded all the first aid supplies. "Stupid wench," he said.  
  
~*~  
  
"Gwen, what happened..."  
  
"...you look terrible..."  
  
"....that is not a good look for you."  
  
Gwen sighed. "At least he didnt' break the skin this time, right?" she said, with a quivering voice. She wanted to cry, _oh_ did she want to cry, but she wouldn't. Not in front of Ellie and Alice. Not _now_.  
  
Lips hopped off the box she was sitting on, and lifted her hand to Gwen's cheek, rubbing it, and then showing her the blood. "Guess again..."  
  
"...we're so sorry Gwen..."  
  
"...it'll get better, really."  
  
"It'll _never_ get better!" Gwen said, before turning to the Mallrats. "I'm sorry, so... so... sorry..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Shhh, Salene, calm down," Ryan said, as Salene sat down hard on the floor of the cage, "you could hurt the-"  
  
"What do you _mean_, _calm down_?" Selene said, standing up again and facing Ryan, her faced filled with fury. "We would have been _just_ fine if she hadn't showed up, and you know it!"  
  
Gwen was all the way at the other end of the room of cages, but heard Salene. Anyone could have heard Selene from anywhere in the mall. "She's right," she said, sighing. She stuck a towel that the Smile had given her on her lip, and hobbled over to Lex and Bray's cage. "To think, if I'd never saved him, none fo this never would have happened..."  
  
"I don't want to hear this, Gwen," Lex snapped at her, grabbing the bars of the cage and looknig out at her. "This is _not_ your fault! If you _hadn't_ gotten to KC, he could have been - "  
  
"Killed? Yeah, and now _all _of you could die! All because I _saved_ him!"  
  
"But you saved him, that's good! Don't you _dare_ say you're sorry you did it, because we both know you aren't!"  
  
Gwen sighed. "I'm so sorry Lex, I should have taken my chance when I had it." She kissed his knuckle, wincing at the touch against her lips. She looked back up at him as Billy pulled her away from the cage.  
  
"Come on pet," he said, throwing her down on the floor, "Top and I thought it time the three of us reminisced." He smirked at Lex as Top Hat carried a dazed Gwen upstairs. "And she _does_ have fun, and is_ so_ very willing..."  
**


	4. Picking Up the Pieces...

**Bray dragged a struggling Lex away from the bars.   
  
"Calm---"  
  
"Don't you _dare _tell me to calm down!!!" he screamed. "If that were Trudy? Would you???"    
  
Bray sighed and shook his head slowly.   
  
"Speaking of which, we don't got much time..."  Ryan said quietly.   
  
"Chloe... little Chloe..." Selene sobbed.   
  
"Shhhhh..." Ryan soothed, rubbing her back gently.   
  
"I hope at least KC and Pats are okay..." she sniffled.   
  
"Yeah, me too..." Lex said softly, almost inaudibly...  
  
~*~  
  
Jaffa walked into Trudy's room and she shrieked.  
  
"Get _out_!"  
  
"The act of nursing is perfectly natural---"  
  
"Doesn't mean I want witnesses! GET OUT!"  
  
Jaffa sighed.   
  
"Supreme Mother... All will be well soon..."  
  
"If you think you're getting laid by me you're _nuts_..."  
  
"Oh, I don't think you have any choice... especially once we fashion the shackles..."  
  
~*~  
  
Billy Boy threw Gwen into a room and told the guards to watch her, telling Top Hat to leave her for now.  
  
"There's time for that _later_, Toppy..." he smirked, walking towards the kids' room.   
  
"Hello, little girl..." Billy Boy smirked, chucking Patsy under the chin.   
  
Patsy whimpered and ran behind KC.   
  
"Leave her alone; she's done nothing to you---"  
  
"Lex's baby brother... yes... you have your brother's temperment, boy... Something we're going to enjoy breaking you of..." Top Hat sneered.   
  
"If he lives that long..." Billy Boy added.  
  
Patsy clutched to KC from behind and he glared up at them, hoping he looked menacing enough. He'd practiced Lex's looks, but with his young face it was hard to master, especially when he was outnumbered and they were so much bigger...   
  
Billy Boy snapped for some guards to come in, and they helped Top Hat grab the struggling KC, as Billy Boy grabbed a squirming Patsy and slung her over his shoulder.  
  
"Don't be a naughty little girl..." he warned.   
  
"GET OFF HER! LET GO!" KC screamed.   
  
Lex's head snapped up from downstairs, wondering if it was Gwen KC was screaming on behalf of, then he saw Billy Boy decending the stairs with Patsy...  
  
"S-Sh-shackles?" Trudy's voice seemed to get caught in her throat. "What- what are those for?"  
  
Jaffa smirked. Submission would soon come, and it would be _so_ very easy this time. And with Bray as a witness... it could not get any better. "Just as a precaution," he said, walknig over and running a hand down her cheek. "in case you have ideas of escape." He smirked as he stepped away from her. "Power and chaos is meant to be, Supreme Mo-"  
  
Trudy's anger exploded. She picked up a vase and threw it at Jaffa's head. "GET OUT!"  
  
~*~  
  
"We have the keys..."  
  
"...and we could let you out..."  
  
"...but then Billy would be pissed."  
  
Bray sighed, and looked back at Lex, who had started to try and pick the look at a request of Ryan. The Smile obviously wasn't going to be a big help anytime soon, and they needed out _now_. Before something happened to Patsy.  
  
"Just help us, you dimwitted-" Ellie's would-be rant was cut off as Alice's hands slapped over her mouth. "SHHHHH," Alice told her. "They might actually give someone the keys."  
  
"But Gwen always helped us..."  
  
"...even when Billy said we couldnt' sing..."  
  
"...and she told us we were good."  
  
~*~  
  
"Oh, come _on_. You guys _know_ me," Gweb said to the gaurd, propping herself up on her elbows.  
  
"That's_ exactly_ why we're watching you like hawks."  
  
"Come on, How-"  
  
The guard pointed a sword at Gwen's throat. "My name now is Sir Laughs A Lot," he told her, smirking. He nodded to the guard at the door, not noticing Gwen picknig up a lamp behind him. "I don't think Billy and Top Hat would mind SO much if we had a bit of our OWN fun before they came back for her." When he turned back around, she was all smiles. "What're _you_ so happy about?"  
  
Gwen just smiled. "Come closer and I'll tell you." She watched the guard set down his weapon and walk closer. "Closer." He stepped closer. "Still, too far away." When he was a little less than an arm's length from her, she broke the lamp over his head. He fell across her lap. "Okay, too close." She pushed him off, and grabbed his sword.  
  
The second guard on Gwen ran in after hearing the commotion. He looked from Gwen with the sword, to "Sir Laughs A Lot" on the floor, out cold. He rushed forward, but Gwen ducked out of the way, and he rammed through a window, fallnig down three stories.  
  
"Well boys," Gwen said, looking from the dead guard to the one she had knocked out, "I think it's time for me to take my leave of you." She looked at her reflection in the mirror. "Goodbye, Jackals, hello Mallrats."  
  
~*~  
  
"What was that?" Top Hat questioned, hearing the commotion and break of the window. "You dont' think she _actually_ managed to escape, do you?"  
  
Billy scoffed. "_Gwen_?" he scoffed again for good measure. "We've gotten her to submit to the point where she wouldn't dare try a _thin_- OW!"  
  
"Looks like she's a little too much for you, huh Billy?" Lex said, smirking. bray smacked his arm as Patsy was caught by a few guards, and dragged back, kicking and screaming, to Billy and Top Hat.  
  
"Sorry Lex, sooner or later, _everyone_ submits to Billy Boy."  
  
"Wanna _bet_?" a voice said from above them.  
  
"Don't be stupid, Gwen..." Billy Boy warned.   
  
Lex motioned for her to "shhhh" as he finished with the lock and slipped up behind the guards with the rest of the mallrats.   
  
And, the battle was on.   
  
Lex klonked the two guards holding Patsy's heads together and hefted her up.  
  
"Miss me, twerp?"  he grinned, tossing her off to Selene, who hurried out of the way with her.   
  
Gwen was cornered by Billy Boy and Top Hat, but her expression remained neutral as Lex slipped up behind Top Hat and broke his neck. Billy Boy took to running, Gwen close at his heels with a metal tool Lex handed her saying "all yours".   
  
Trudy, still at the top of the stairs with Jaffa, took the opportunity to grab him by the hair and knee him in the groin, causing him to roll down the stairs, barreling over a few guards as he went, clutching himself painfully, until he finally cracked his head on the fountain...   
  
Lex was starting to actually enjoy the fight, letting out a rebel-yell and kicking some major ass, Ryan at his side, until he got a funny feeling and his face darkened, suddenly racing up the stairs.   
  
Ryan frowned, but followed him, and then he saw... three guards... standing over KC...    
  
~*~   
  
Morning came slowly. When the sun rose everyone was tired, and surrounded by dead bodies. But, they were too exhausted to clean it up now...   
  
KC sat under Lex's protective arm, cradling his left arm painfully. Patsy was huddled in Selene's lap, and Trudy just kept rocking Brady and singing to her over and over again, as if she didn't even realize it...   
  
"This... we gotta clean up?" Bray said weakly.   
  
"Get the prisoners to do it." Lex snapped wearily. "_Make_ 'em, I don't care... San? You wanna let's get a look at kiddo's arm here?"  
  
"Um, sure, Lex..." Tai-San nodded as Lex followed her, half-carrying KC.   
  
"He's upset."  
  
"We all are, Gwen!" Trudy snapped.   
  
Gwen bit her lip.  
  
"I know... I'm sorry..." she said, her lip starting to tremble.  
  
"Oh, for... Calm down? We don't _blame_ you, if that's what you're thinking?" she sighed.   
  
"How could you not?"  
  
"Because we know it wasn't your fault." Ellie said simply.   
  
"Yeah, c'mon, Gwen... ease up on yourself?"   
  
"Yeah, and I wouldn't go blaming myself in front of Lex anymore?"  
  
"Why not?" she asked dully.   
  
"Because he likes you, but if you say _ever_ again you regret saving KC, that he's still aro---"   
  
"No! I didn't mean it like that!"  
  
"But, that _is_ what you said..." Jack pointed out.   
  
"Jack! Leave Gwen alone---"  
  
"No, Ellie, she _did_ say that? I'm just trying to help her?"  
  
"He's right..." Ryan nodded. "Yeah, cause, like I said, Lex _really_ likes you..."  
  
"But if he thinks I think..."  
  
"Exactly."    
  
~*~  
  
"Filthy cowards... three big guys... one little shrimp..." Lex was muttering as he paced, watching Tai-San splint KC's arm and fashion a sling for it.   
  
"Lex, calm down, they have paid?"  
  
Lex growled but quieted, putting a hand on top of KC's head.   
  
"I'm okay; I was the one who was tryin' to fight 'em to get out of the room..." KC admitted. "Just wasn't fast enough..."  
  
"Doesn't usually matter how fast ya are if you're outnumbered, kid." Lex sighed, pulling him a bit closer by the hand on his forehead.   
  
"But, I wanted to get to Patsy? I couldn't help and---"  
  
"You did the best you could; you did just fine. Patsy's _fine_..."   
  
~*~  
  
"Trudy?"  
  
"GET OU-" Trudy put the shoe she had poised to throw down. "Oh, Bray, it's you."  
  
Bray nodded. "What'd that shoe ever do to you?" he joked, receiving a small smile. "How are you girls?"  
  
Trudy kept her arms around Brady as she leaned against Bray, his arms wrapping around them. "Better, now that you're here." She looked up at him. "What about the Guar-"  
  
"He was the first to go into the ground, we made sure of that."  
  
~*~  
  
"Things are different with Ellie and Alice's sister here," Patsy said to KC, as they muched on some snacks. "She's pretty, and smart, and -"  
  
"Regrets saving me."  
  
Patsy's eyes went wide. "No _way_, KC. She wouldn't have helped us win if she did."  
  
"You two hush now," Alice said, looking at Ellie running off somewhere with Jack. "Read about it in The Amulet."  
  
~*~  
  
"But Ryan -"  
  
"No buts, Selene, we tell them. You're going to start showing and then what will we do?"  
  
"Tell them then?"  
  
Ryan sighed, and hugged Selene to him. This marriage was going to be hard, but he wanted Salene and the baby. More than he ever thought you could want something.  
  
~*~  
  
"Uh, Lex?"  
  
Lex was smoking on the balcony when he heard Gwen's voice behind him. "What?"  
  
"I - I just wanted to say -"  
  
"What? That you're sorry?" He stubbed out his cigarette, and nearly winced when he grabbed her hands and she cringed. "It wasn't your fault."  
  
"I know..."  
  
"KC's worried about Patsy." He saw Gwen's mouth trying to break into a small smile. "See? I knew that would help. But you're sorry you saved -"  
  
"Never. He's an innocent. He didn't do anything." She looked up finally, her eyes looking liek glass. "Lex, they wouldn't have agreed to fight if I hadn't run."  
**  
**Lex put a gentle arm around her.   
  
"Shush now... none of it was your fault..."   
  
"But, if I'd've just---"  
  
"It's over? You've got us now... you've got _me_ now..."   
  
"I... I do?"  
  
"I love you, Gwen..." he breathed, cupping her face gently and leaning down to capture her mouth.   
  
She tried not to wince as she felt his soft lips on her bruised ones, but cupped his face, too, to keep him in place as she saw him noticing and start to move back...   
  
~*~  
  
Bray kept his arms around them both, sighing, and rested his chin atop Trudy's head.   
  
"Trud?"  
  
"Yes, Bray?"  
  
"You wanna get married?"   
  
"M-married?"  
  
"Yeah, like... tomorrow?"   
  
"Oh, Bray, I---"  
  
And, she almost jumped up and threw herself into his arms, if she hadn't've remembered the baby in her lap, so she smiled widely and nodded, reaching up behind him to stroke his jaw gently...   
  
~*~   
  
"Jack, stop it? We can't make out--- we have to work..."  
  
"El, this isn't old times? We're not getting _paid_; no one's gonna _fire_ us..."   
  
"But people need the truth..."  
  
"Yeah, well there's something _I_ need right about now?"   
  
~*~  
  
KC slipped outside  and back inside quickly when he saw Lex and Gwen kissing.    
  
He sighed and decided to go back to where Patsy was.   
  
"Feeling better, KC?" she wanted to know.  
  
"Um, sure, Pats... yeah..."   
  
"I don't believe you... you're actin' funny..."  
  
"I'm _fine_... I'm just tired?" he sighed.  
  
"Oh, okay..." she said quietly.   
  
KC sighed and laid back into his bed.  
  
_"Things are never gonna be the same again..."_ he thought. _"She's gonna marry him, and then it's all over... Doesn't want me... she'll just take him and go..."_  
  
"KC, are you _sure_ you're okay?"  
  
"Y-yeah, Patsy fine..." he said, putting a smile on.  
  
_"Can't let anyone know--- Lex deserves at least not to have things spoiled for him this time...  I'll miss him, but if she makes him happy..." _he thought, melonchololy...  
  
~*~  
  
"What were you doing?" Tai-San asked, as Gwen wandered into her room, "Your lips look twice as bad as they did before?"  
  
Gwen covered them with her hand, touching them slightly. "I probably just pursed them too hard?" she said, hoping Tai-San would believe her. "Really?"  
  
"Sure, whatever you say... so when's the wedding?"  
  
"W-Wedding?"  
  
"Yeah, people usually do that when they love each other."  
  
"Wait, who said anything about _loving_ Lex?"  
  
Tai-San smirked. "I never mentioned Lex."  
  
~*~  
  
"Salene!" Trudy ran into Salene and Ryan's room, after dropping Brady off with Alice.  
  
Salene looked up from the book she was reading about baby names, sticking it under a pillow, and saw a grinning Trudy. "What _happened_?"  
  
"I'm getting married!"  
  
"About damned time, Trudy!"  
  
"SALENE!"  
  
~*~  
  
"Hey Patsy," Lex said, as he walked into the kids' room. Which had more room now that Cloe was gone, a thought that saddened even Lex. May's room was going to Gwen, he had told Bray, if she chose to stay. Bray had just smirked and gone to check on Trudy and Brady. "Can I talk to KC?"  
  
Patsy nodded, and got off her bed. "Sure Lex," she replied, picknig up the end of Cloudy's leash. "Come on, Cloudy."  
  
KC turned away from Lex. "I'm reading."  
  
"No you're not."  
  
"I don't want to talk, Lex."  
  
"I know but you'll at least listen?"  
  
"Don't you think I know what's gonig to happen?" KC sat up, and turned to Lex. "You're gonig to marry her, and she _already_ said she wants to leave. Back to her precious farm..."  
  
"But you, me, and.."  
  
"...Zandra. Remember her? The one you said you'd love forever?"**  
  
**Lex flinched visibly.   
  
"I know you loved Zan..."   
  
"Yeah, and it hasn't even been a _year_, Lex!"   
  
Lex sighed.  
  
"I know, KC, but---"  
  
"But what?"   
  
"It doesn't matter if it's been _ten_ years, it won't make her more or less dead."   
  
KC made a face.  
  
"I know that, Lex, but you said you loved her. That it was always. She loved us both, and she wouldn't like this."   
  
"You've been listening to Tai-San too much, hearing spirits..."  
  
"That's not _it_---"  
  
"Then what is it?!"   
  
"Because you're gonna go with her, and I'll never see you again!" he blurted out.   
  
~*~   
  
Trudy, Patsy and Selene were down in the dress shoppe, picking out dresses for the occassion.   
  
"Ohhhh... Trudy..." Selene breathed.  
  
Trudy held up a dress of violet silk against her, smiling at the contrast against her creamy skin. It was floor-length, long and swishing. The bodice was form-fitting, with a scoop neck, and no sleeves; just a strap that went up and around the back of her neck. It was backless, with a pulled in waist, and matching silk gloves that went up to her elbows.   
  
"Oh, it's so pretty..." Patsy said in awe.   
  
"Got a boquet?"  
  
Trudy grinned and gestured to Brady, showing Selene this little creamy lace dress, with little rosebuds embroidered all over it.   
  
"Awwww, that'll be so adorable... What about shoes?"   
  
Trudy held up then a pair of clear heels; all iridescent and sparkly.  
  
"Just like Cinderella..." Patsy said, eyes wide and shining...   
  
~*~  
  
"What do you _mean_ she's gone?" Lex barked at Tai-San during dinner. "I have to talk to her!"  
  
Tai-San looked at Alice and Ellie, both people she had told about Gwen's decision to go see Zandra's grave. They _were_ her sisters. She never though that Lex would... "She went to do something important, Lex," she explained, "and she can't have you mucking this up for her."  
  
"**_Where****_ did she go, Tai-San?"  
  
"I don't know... you'd go after her."  
  
"Damn straight, she shouldnt' be going anywhere alone!"  
  
Ellie glared at Lex. "Are you trying to say my sister can't take care of herself?"  
  
"Ellie, Tai-San won't tell me where she went, I'm jsut worried something _really_ bad will happen to her!"  
  
Ellie looked at Alice. Who looked back at her. "Oh in that case," Alice said, "the people who need to know _do_ know, Lex."  
  
KC's eyes suddenly went wide looking at Tai-San. "You_ told_ her about Zandra!" he exclaimed in such a moment of silence that everyone looked at him. Except Tai-San, who was sighing.  
  
That's when Lex really lost it. "SHE WENT TO EAGLE MOUNTAIN?"  
  
"Lex, she didn't want -"  
  
"I don't _care_, Tai-San! You should have MADE her take you! Or Alice, or even Ellie! It's _dangerous_ up there!"  
  
"She needed to be alone Lex..."  
  
"....because she needs to make sure she covers all her bases..."  
  
"...but I don't think she'd have gone alone unless she knew she'd be okay."  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU THREE STILL DOING HERE?!"  
  
~*~  
  
"I _have _to do this," Gwen told herself, as she looked at the map Tai-San had given her. "If I don't... it coudl lead to problems."  
  
Just then, a rain cloud burst open.  
  
"Oh yeah, _that_ gives me real encouragement to keep going..." _Sometimes I wonder  
if I'm ever gonna make  
it home again.  
It's so far  
and out of sight.  
I really need someone  
to talk to,  
and, nobody else  
knows how to comfort me tonight.  
  
_As the storm began to rage, Gwen finally made it up the mountain, to a little dome, outside which was two make-shift markers.   
  
She sat between them, not sure which was which, and shivered in the torrential rain.   
  
"Zandra? Whichever one you are..."  
  
Suddenly, she heard a voice carried by the wind, a soft voice...   
  
As she began to follow it, the raining was letting up, and the place was starting to look different--- warmer...   
  
_"Look into the future, what do you see? I really need to know now, is there a place for me? Tell me where do we go from here? Take me as you find me, for what I am. And, when I make mistakes, please, understand. And, as long as I know you're near, there is nothing for me to fear. Out of the darkness, a light shines. Burning through the coldest night. And, we can find a way.Together we'll make it. With every step we take, we'll move closer together. If we're gonna survive, the dream must stay alive. Alive..." _  
  
She looked on in shock as she saw the calm-looking girl, singing to an infant in a stroller. She was quite beautiful, Gwen mused, with her soft-looking two-toned hair, and her sweet face...   
  
"Hello, you must be Gwen..." she said, looking up briefly from the child.   
  
"How---- how'd you know my name?" Gwen demanded.   
  
"You did come to see us, after all..."   
_  
Snow is cold,  
rain is wet.  
Chills my soul  
right to the marrow.  
I won't be happy  
till I see you  
alone again.  
Till I'm home again  
and feelin' right.  
  
_"What is this? A community treck?" Lex grumbled.   
  
"We're a tribe; we all agreed to go, Lex." Bray said, adjusting Brady on Trudy's pack.   
  
"Yeah, we won't leave ya, bud." Ryan assured, clapping him on the shoulder.   
  
"We're going to make it back to the mall, aren't we?" Patsy asked timidly.  
  
"Well, we did last time..."  
  
"Yes, sweetheart, we're going back... don't worry..." Trudy sighed, loathing to mention the achiness within her, the queasiness she felt, and the worry of bringing Brady out into this, despite the fact that she was buried in her coat... _  
  
Snow is cold,   
rain is wet.   
Chills my soul  
right to the marrow.   
I won't be happy  
till I see you alone again.  
Till I'm home again  
and feelin' right.   
I wanna be home again  
and feelin' right...   
  
_Gwen took a deep breath, brushing her hair out of her face. "I'm not hallucinating this," she said, "right?"  
  
"Of course not," Zandra smiled, "you made it here in less time than anyone expected. The storm was to see how dedicated you were."  
  
"Well, I made it." She looked down at herself. "Barely." She cleared her throat and looked back up. "Speaking of which, I came to talk to you about something..."  
  
~*~  
  
"We should have left the kids back at the mall," Lex grumbled, looknig at Bray, who was helping Trudy and Brady along. "The baby could get sick, and Trud doesn't look that great either."  
  
Trudy harumphed. "Gee thanks, Lex," she said, "see if I agree to come _next_ time..."  
  
"SHHH," Ellie said, ducking behind a rock, others going behind trees. "I see her."  
  
Bray and Ryan looked at each other and dragged Lex behind a rock. "Lex, you _have_ to let her do this by herself," Ryan told him, as he looked like he was about to go and rush off ater her.  
  
~*~  
  
"...well, more specifically, Lex."  
  
Zandra nodded, and smiled. "I know."  
  
"He's going to yell when I get back, but I _had_ to do this. To make sure you don't hate me. I didn't _know_ about you... and maybe it wouldn't have stopped me, but I _do_ want him. He said he loved me."  
  
"I know that..."  
  
"...and about the farm, I love that too. I was born there, raised, and then taken from it." She looked down at her feet. "I can't take them from the mall."  
  
"Them?"  
  
"KC and Lex." She looked back up. "I've made mistakes, but Lex will protect that boy with his life. Forever. I won't jeapordize that."  
  
"I see..."  
  
"I have two sisters, and I don't want to leave them. They're at the mall."  
  
"Why exactly did you come here, Gwendolyn?"  
  
"Because I want to make sure you believe me when I say he'll never forget you, that he will always love you, and..." She looked at the stroller. "...and the baby, whether it is girl or boy. He will, but I love him too. I really do, Zandra." She swallowed, feeling tears trying to drop out of her eyes. "And if you don't want me to try to make a life with him, tell me so, and I will back off."  
  
Zandra gave her this little purse-lipped look and rolled her eyes.   
  
"You really make it hard on yourself, don'tcha?"  
  
"Ex---"  
  
"No, no, honey... worrying causes wrinkles..."   
  
Gwen puckered her brow in confusion, causing Zandra to laugh, like the sound of windchimes.  
  
"Sweetie? You're alive, ain'tcha?"  
  
"Well, yeah..."   
  
"If I _didn't_ approve, I'd zap your ass and make you spontaneously combust?"  
  
~*~  
  
"What's she doing?" Ellie whispered harshly.   
  
KC frowned, starting to fidgit.    
  
"You idiot!" Ellie yelled at Lex. "This is _all_ your fault!"  
  
"My fault?!"  
  
"If not for---"  
  
"What? Because he was married before? He didn't tell her about where Zan was, and he has a right to have been married before, ya---"   
  
Selene snaked a hand over KC's mouth and yanked him back to her.  
  
"Calm down?" she advised.   
  
Lex watched her, just standing there, confused.  
  
"What the bloody hell is she _doing_?!"


	5. CONCLUSION: All For the Glory of Love...

**"Oh, I almost forgot," Gwen said, putting down her pack, and pulling something out. "I was going to put flowers up here, but as you can see.."  
  
"That's alright," Zandra told her, "I understand. Rain does things."  
  
Gwen nodded. Then she looked around. "The rain stopped."  
  
"You should go. I will always be watching..." Zandra faded away with the baby, leaving Gwen on top of the mountain all by herself.  
  
"Now _that _is something to put down in a book..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Uh, guys?" Bray asked, as Ellie and Lex continued their argument.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"She's coming this way?"  
  
Both Ellie and Lex had been poised to say something else, but stopped when they noticed Bray was right. Gwen had turned around, and was walking back in the direction of the mall. "She looks _terrible_!" Ellie gasped.  
  
"Gee, El," Alice said, "I'm sure she loves you just as much."  
  
"You _know_ what I mean, Alice!"  
  
"Gwen, what in the name of heaven were you _doing_ up there?" Lex began to rant, steppnig in front of Gwen, blocking her path. "Not only is it dangerous when it _isn't_ raining, it's at _least_ twice as dangerous when it _is_!"  
  
Gwen rolled her eyes. "I'm alive _now_, aren't I?" she asked of Lex, who ended up just opening and closing hsi mouth a few times before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. 'What do you think you'rte doing???"  
  
"We're all going back to the mall, apparently," Alice replied, following the rest behind Lex and a struggling Gwen. "Lex, let her go, or she's gonig to put you in traction."  
  
"She won't, she loves me," Lex said, smirking at the fact that Gwen stopped struggling when he said that. "That's right, we heard every word you said."  
  
~*~  
  
Bray watched as Trudy came forward, carrying Brady, an almost knowing smile on her face. She was so beautiful, he mused...      
  
He repeated the vows Tai-San gave him, then Trudy did the same, and the rings were exchanged. He gently kissed her and led her to a seat, where he sat her down and kneeled in front of her and Brady with a guitar he pulled from under the seat...   
  
"Bray, what---"  
  
"Shhhh..." he told her, kissing her gloved hand gently.   
  
Trudy smiled down at him, but looked nonpulssed nonetheless.   
  
Lex rolled his eyes; Mr. Romantic, eh? At least Gwen didn't go for that sappy--- oh, lovely, she's all misty eyed... he thought...  
  
"_Tonight it's very clear, as we're both lyin' here. There's so many things I wanna say. I will always love you, I would never leave you alone. Sometimes I just forget, say things I might regret. It breaks my heart to see you cryin'. I don't wanna loose you, I could never make it alone._"   
  
Lex smiled at Gwen, and extended his hand.  
  
"Dance?" he whispered.   
  
Gwen smiled and took his hand, allowing him to sweep her onto the dance floor...  
  
"_I am the man who would fight for your honor. I'll be the hero you're dreamin' of. We'll live forever, knownin' together that we did it all for the glory of love._"  
  
Patsy looked at KC expectantly, and he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and allowed her to half-drag him to the dance-floor.   
  
Lex snickered, looking at the pair over Gwen's head...   
  
"_You keep me standin' tall, you keep me through it all. I'm always tall when you're beside me. I have always needed you. I could never make it alone._"  
  
Jack and Ellie began dancing at the same time as Ryan and Selene, and Trudy sat, balancing Brady upright in her lap...   
  
"_I am the man who will fight for your honor. I'll be the hero you're dreaming of. We'll live forever. Knowin' together that we did it all for the glory of love._"  
  
"Y'know... weddings are nice..." Lex mused.   
  
"How many have you had?" Gwen asked.   
  
"Two."  
  
"TWO?!" she squeaked.   
  
"Shhhhh..." he smirked at her. "It was to the same girl... see, Ebony wrecked the first one..."   
  
"Aha..."   
  
"Yeah, so... will ya?"  
  
"Will I what?"  
  
"Marry me?"  
  
"_Just like a knight in shining armor, from a long time ago. Just in time I'll save the day, take you to my castle far away._"  
  
Patsy heard and looked over at KC.  
  
"Isn't that soooo romantic, KC?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, don't get any ideas?"    
  
Patsy rolled her eyes at him.   
  
Selene smiled up at Ryan.  
  
"Ryan... I think I've decided..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The baby... remember you said you liked the names Ruby and Pearl once?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"I'm thinking if it's a girl, Ruby Pearl, and if it's a boy, Ryan Junior, and call him RJ..."   
  
"_I am the man who will fight for your honor. I'll be the hero that you're dreamin' of. We're gonna live forever. Knowin' together that we did it all for the glory of love. We'll live forever. We'll live forever. Knowin' together. Knowin' together. That we did it all for the glory of love. Ooooooh. We did it all for love. We did it all for love. We did it all for love. We did it all for love..._"  
  
Ellie and Jack watched Gwen pacing in the cafe that night. "So," Ellie asked, holding her notebook, "what are you gonig to tell him??"  
  
"Yeah Gwen," Jack said, trying not to laugh, "or are you going to cause more by having us tell 'im in the Amulet?"  
  
"This is not how things were supposed to be..."  
  
"Face it, Gwen," Ellie told her sister, "_Nothing_ is like it was supposed to be."  
  
"We both like KC."  
  
"Uh-huh..."  
  
"And we both like fighting."  
  
"And you both are absolutely nuts about each other."  
  
"Your point, Holmes?"  
  
"Elementary, my dear Gwendoyln." Ellie smiled. "You say yes."  
  
"I thought you'd say as much." Gwen looked at them both. "I'm gonna go tell him now."  
  
~*~  
  
"So KC...."  
  
"_No_, Patsy."  
  
"Come on, why not?"  
  
"Because we're thirteen?"  
  
Patsy pouted, and KC couldn't help but sigh. "When we're older?"  
  
"If there's no one else, sure."  
  
~*~  
  
The Smile looked at Lex pacing Gwen's room, formerly May's. "Relax Lex..." Lips told him.  
  
"...Gwen will be back from talking with Ellie and Jack in a little while..."  
  
"...and she's going to say _yes_."  
  
"She i-" Lex turned towards the door, where the voice had come from. "You _are_?"  
  
Gwen nodded. "Because of the way you make me want to run and hide..." She saw lex rolling his eyes, and grabbed his hand with both of hers. "...that's a good thing. I mean, you make me want to run and hide and go straight to you when I do. I want to see you there every day for the rest of my life."  
  
"Aren't you the poet?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
~*~  
  
KC walked into Lex's room where he was just sitting, staring.  
  
"You okay, Lex?" he asked tenatively.   
  
"Yeah, sure, kid... you're getting a sister-in-law..."  
  
"Yeah, I know... I'm glad. She makes you happy."  
  
Lex smiled and ruffled his hair.  
  
"Yeah, she does..."   
  
"Lex... you know alot about women, right?"  
  
"I like to think so..."   
  
"Then, can you help me?"  
  
"Patsy?" he smirked.   
  
KC blushed.  
  
"Awwww,  come on... she's not so bad if you can get past the daily tantrums..."   
  
"Funny, really."  
  
"Okay, okay..." he laughed. "What d'ya wanna know?"  
  
"Well... sometimes I don't know what to make of her?"  
  
"Welcome to the world of women, kiddo." he smiled, tossing an arm around him.   
  
KC sighed and looked up at Lex.   
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Know what?"  
  
"Well... if one is the right one?"  
  
"Well... with Zan, there were others between times, but it was always her..."  
  
"Like Bray and Trudy?"  
  
"Yeah, I mean, I met Zan when I was 12, remember?"  
  
KC nodded.   
  
"You're just a little squirt yet; you don't gotta rush nothin'..."  
  
"Well, yeah, but... I dunno..." he shrugged. "What if..."  
  
"What if what?"  
  
"What if she finds somebody better to hang around with?"   
  
~*~  
  
Bray massaged Trudy's shoulders gently.  
  
"Feeling any better?" he asked, dropping a kiss on her neck.  
  
"Slightly..."  
  
"Anything I can get for you?"  
  
"No... no... I'm fine... I just..."  
  
"Just what?"  
  
"I feel like I did when I realized that one was coming?" she smiled, dropping a gentle hand to Brady's cheek...   
  
~*~  
  
"Gwen. Stop pacing?" Alice smirked.   
  
"He said... and I said..."   
  
"Yes, we know, Gwen." Ellie laughed.  
  
"Married."   
  
"Yes, Gwen."  
  
"I'm getting _married_!" she beamed, falling backwards onto her bed.  
  
Ellie laughed.  
  
"Ooooh, The Amulet is going to be_ interesting_ this week..."  
  
~*~  
  
Gwen looked around her room. There were a lot of things she got from the farm. Lex said he'd go with her, but she felt better taking Bray and Ryan. She had a chance to actually talk to them. She smiled at the picture on the little table by her bed. Her and Alice with Ellie as a baby.  
  
"Great little family I've got," she said.  
  
"Soon it's gonna be bigger," Lex's voice said from her doorway. "I said I'd go with you, you know."  
  
"Yeah, but I'm not going to go away, Lex." She smiled. "I promise."  
  
Lex put his arms around her, realizing for the first time she wasn't all that short. She was practically his height. He smiled.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing, Gwen, absolutely nothing."  
  
~*~  
  
"Hey Ryan?"  
  
"Yeah, Selene?"  
  
"What if I have twins?"  
  
"TWINS?!"  
  
~*~  
  
Bray looked over at Trudy. "_Another_ one?" Bray asked, surprised but smiling. "A sister or brother for Brady?"  
  
"No, a goat, Bray," Trudy said, "yes, a brother or sister for Brady." She smiled. "It had to of happened on the beach, since you're the only one since..."  
  
"I know."  
  
Trudy smiled. She finally had Bray, and he finally had her. It all seemed right. Even _Lex_ was happy. "So, when do you think the wedding is?"  
  
"I'm going to guess as soon as they can manage."  
  
"So, tomorrow then?"  
  
~*~  
  
"Patsy?"  
  
Patsy threw a pillow across the room at KC. "I was _sleeping_, KC..."  
  
KC sat on the edge of Patsy's bed and handed her back her pillow. "Yeah, I know, but... I wanted to ask you something..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Do you wanna?" KC handed her a little tiny plastic ring. "I mean, not right now, but keep this until they'll let us?"  
  
Patsy smiled, nearly knocking KC over. "Of course!"  
  
~*~  
**  
**Trudy helped Selene plait wild-flowers into Gwen's hair. Her dress was yellow silk, and very bright and airy. Very like her--- nature-loving and simplistic in a sense. It had a sweetheart neckline, and light sleeves that just went over the shoulders, a fitted bodice and a flared skirt. Her boquet was also of the same wildflowers.  
  
Lex waited for her at the end of the aisle, while Tai-San stood to do the vows for them.   
  
Patsy sat next to KC, looking at the little plastic ring he gave her. It was what you would've called back in the before-time a "gumball-machine" ring, but it was beautiful to her. It had this thick, doubled over, golden band, and a little red heart nestled in the center--- not in those prongs like some rings.    
  
She hid a smile as he slipped a hand into hers as they began repeating their vows.   
  
Trudy lay her head on Bray's shoulder, watching, but her thoughts starting to wander.  
  
_"If this one's a boy, we'll call him Trey..."_ she mused.   
  
Bray caught her eye and smiled, and she smiled back, her eyes starting to mist.  
  
Everything was going so well... everything was so perfect... finally, it had all fallen into place...  
  
Selene lay her head on Ryan's shoulder as well. She would tell everyone--- tomorrow. She didn't want to take away from Gwen's day. And, this was a beautiful day, that would be remembered always...   
  
"I now pronounce you man and wife. Kiss your bride." Tai-San smiled.   
  
Scary enough, Gwen was almost mirroring Trudy's thoughts as Lex bent her back and kissed her passionately. Everything was all right now--- no more Locos, no more Jackals, no more Chosen... no more fighting... They were saying everything was over. But, no, everything was just begining...   
  
  
                                               ~*The End*~  
**


End file.
